Heracles
by Snapers
Summary: Jaune Arc didn't think much—he was more impulsive than anything. So when he was kicked out of Beacon he had no idea what would happen to him. He never expected to become friends with the criminals he was sent to spy on... neither did he expect that the helpful little voice in his head was actually a she-devil trying to destroy humanity...
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing**

* * *

 _"Damn it!"_

 _"Run!"_

 _"No! Guys!"_

 _"Jaune! Jaune please!"_

* * *

"No... please stop," a weak and pleading voice asked.

Red eyed narrowed onto the source of the voice.

"No," a cold female voice answered. "I am not wasting my time on you, Arc."

Jaune Arc could only grown as the foot of his mentor crashed into his face.

"Why?" he could only ask weakly. "We already trained today, Raven, there's no point-" he was kicked in the ribs before he could finish.

Raven Branwen only glared. "I have to go do something, people I need to talk to."

"Are you sure?" Jaune couldn't help but ask with a little bit of sass. "It seems like I'm the only person you have talked to in ye-OW!"

It wasn't that he didn't believe her, Raven had more mystery to her than Jaune's brain could ever comprehend, but he knew she was a rather big recluse—who detested human contact for whatever reason.

"I am leaving," Raven said sternly. "I am leaving you to spy on Roman some more, maybe you'll learn something."

And with that she was gone.

Jaune groaned loudly at the thought. Raven decided that he had to be somewhat useful to her—so she somehow managed to trick Roman Torchwick into taking him in as some sort of protege.

It wasn't that Jaune didn't like the idea that his spying could lead to the criminal's demise—it was just the _act_ that killed him. Trying to pretend that he was in debt to Roman and respected the man when he actually wanted nothing more than to put him behind bars... now that was tough.

"This sucks," he said out loud. "What do you think, Say?"

 **'Deal with it, Jaune,'** a rather gentle voice spoke in his mind.

It took his a while to realize that the voice in his head actually _wasn't_ him going bat shit crazy, but an actual person. Salem, the name the voice gave him, was his guiding light. She helped him out after he left Beacon, she kept him alive—constantly teaching him new things to survive.

And then he ran into Raven, who made it so he ran into Roman, who made him feel dirty on the inside.

So in a way it DEFINITELY wasn't his own fault for the shitty situation he was in.

"Well," Jaune started as he started to get up, "off to Torchwick then... yaaaay..."

* * *

 _"I'm in position, over."_

 _"Hello? I'm in position..over"_

A sigh.

 _"Roman, are you there? How about you Neo?"_

No response.

 _"Neo? Neoooo... why did I expect you to answer? Roman! You better answer ri-"_

 _"What do you want kid!? I'm trying to blow the wall!"_

 _"What!? What about the pla-"_

An explosion rang throughout the city.

 _"You better hurry, we got two minutes until the cops come."_

 _"To steal Dust!? How are we going to... never mind... I'm coming."_

* * *

Jaune Arc wasn't good at a lot of things. He was never accepted into any school—his brief stint in Beacon aside, he was never good with a sword, and he never got a girl despite all his father's advice.

But one thing he could do was work under pressure.

"WHY!?"

Or at least he would like to say that.

"Don't drop the dust, you fool!"

"Shut up Roman!"

"What did you say? You know we're face to face now..."

"I... I uhh... oops?"

Yeah... he was great under pressure.

He felt like he had some slack though, robbing a Dust or a decent amount of product in under two minutes was tough. And the fact that Roman was doing nothing but sitting on the front counter wasn't helping.

Jaune grunted as he threw another crate into the getaway Bullhead (that Neo just happened to drive THROUGH the wall to enter the shop) and looked at Roman.

"You gonna help?"

Roman just looked at him and twirled his cane around.

"Why would I move the dust?" he said confused. "I have you to do that."

Was he serious? The sirens of the police was basically blasting in there ears!

Jaune grit his teeth as he through another box inside the Bullhead.

"Roman let's go!" he said as he jumped into the Bullhead.

"What about that one?" the criminal asked, pointing to a small box.

"It's basically nothi-"

"Seems like something to me," Roman cut him off before he could finish.

Jaune let out a quite string of curses as he had to _get off_ the Bullhead, just to take _a single box_ and get _back on_ the aircraft.

Roman was an asshole.

Jaune jumped back into the Bullhead and banged the side wall while Roman merrily strolled in.

"Neo!" he yelled as he banged. "We need to go!"

The police rounded the corner as their Bullhead finally managed to take off. Jaune felt his stomach lurch from both his motion sickness and the sight of cops following them.

"Roman! What do we do!?" he yelled distraught. "I can't make it in prison! They're gonna-"

"Please stop," Roman said sharply, before shaking his head. "Kid, if you want to be a pro criminal like me, you got to follow some creeds. One of them is to NEVER lose your head in an operation."

And with that Roman walked over to the open cargo doors of the Bullhead, lifted his cane, and fired a single shot.

The police shop started to shake, before spinning towards the ground without control.

He had hit the engine with that lone shot.

 _Now_ Jaune was going to throw up. Roman just took the _fucking_ police down.

"I-" he gasped at his sudden nausea, "-Roman... I can't do this..."

Roman sighed as he closed the cargo doors and sat down.

"Kid, where were you two months ago?"

"Huh?"

"Two months ago," Roman said again, "What were you doing?"

Jaune thought for a moment to make sure he stuck to his cover story.

"I mean... I was doing really noth-"

"Yes!" Roman cut off. "You were doing nothing. You were—and at the moment still are—nothing... but I saw something in the hungry, homeless boy about to be eaten by Grimm. I saw the eyes of a man who wanted to survive, so I gave you a chance."

Jaune wanted to roll his eyes—Raven set the entire thing up. It was an elaborate ploy to get him in with Torchwick.

 _But why?_

Jaune snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed Roman's expectant look.

"And I'm really grateful for that but-"

"But nothing! I am the only reason you are alive. I guess you can say that _I own you_."

Yup Roman, you keep thinking that.

"And kid," Roman continued, "I might be abusing that fact. But only because I am going to turn you into what you always wanted to be—a man who changes the world."

"And someone who will benefit you in the end, right?"

Roman laughed and poked Jaune with his cane.

"Right about that too! See? You got a decent head on your shoulders!"

* * *

The first thing Jaune did when they got to their current safe house was run to the bathroom.

Criminal operations involved a lot of holding it in.

The next order was to sleep.

"Hold it kid!"

Of course... sleep would have to wait.

"Yes Roman?" he asked, his annoyance not even hidden in the slightest.

Roman looked at Neo, who looked at him, before gesturing to the door.

"We still have plans, remember? We were gonna get ice cream."

Jaune stared at them. And continued to stare for at least a minute.

"You know," he started after thinking for the right words, "I thought the plans to get ice cream ended when you looked at a Dust shop and yelled, 'Let's rob it.' And then insisted we do the entire robbery in under five minuted to, and I quote, 'Break the record for the fastest large scale robbery.'"

"And I think we did it!" Roman yelled triumphantly. "Right Neo? he asked the presumably (Jaune wouldn't be surprised if she was lying) mute girl.

She gave a thumbs up.

"That means we should go celebrate! And guess what the best thing to treat ourselves with is..."

Jaune twitched in annoyance.

"You are suppose to be criminal masterminds," he muttered. "Not children."

A cane hit him in the head, sending him sprawling onto the ground.

 _Damn you Raven._


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing**

* * *

 _"W-who are you?"_

 _"You are young. Why are you nothing more than a wanderer?"_

 _"I... I have nothing anymore."_

 _"Come with me."_

 _"H-huh?"_

 _"My name is Raven, and..."_

* * *

"Do I do it?"

No response.

"Neo."

Nothing.

Jaune sighed.

"Neo, you can't play the mute card when I don't even need a verbal answer. All I'm asking is that you shake your head to either 'yes' or 'no.'"

Neo nodded, signifying 'yes.'

The Arc let out yet another sigh as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. He thought the somewhat moderate amount of facial hair he started to grow actually looked good—kinda like the rugged warrior vibe.

"Is it really that bad?" Or was she angry that he made her answer?

She looked at him straight in the eye with her dual colored ones and nodded.

'Salem?' he thought to himself, knowing she could most likely hear him.

There was silence for a few moments.

 **'Sorry Jaune,'** the relaxing voice of Salem chimed. ' **I was doing something.'**

'No problem, it's not your job to take care of me.'

 **'I think I enjoy it too much for it to be a job.'**

Jaune smiled a little at the thought.

At least _somebody_ had his back. Roma, Neo, and even Raven all had their own agendas—he knew all of them were using him and could stab him in the back at any moment.

 **'Raven sacrificed a lot to take you in, she must care a little.'**

'Or she's gambling on me immensely,' he thought grimly.

 **'You need to put trust into people.'**

'I trust you.'

 **'People who aren't in your mind.'**

Jaune stared at his reflection, deep in thought.

He trusted Team JNPR with his life, but that road was long closed. He was no longer on his way to becoming a Huntsman, the 'NPR' of 'JNPR' would probably get a new member soon—if they don't have one already. Soon he'll be nothing more than a bad memory.

He would do anything to have JNPR, RWBY, hell—even CFVY or CRDL watch his back, despite the fact that he barely knew CFVY and CRDL probably hated him with a burning passion.

CRDL had all the reason in the world to hate him though...

 **'Hey Jaune, what were you asking?'**

Jaune sighed, dragging him out of his thoughts.

'You like my beard?'

 **'Let me take control and I'll tell you.'**

Salem couldn't experience his five senses, he was pretty sure she could only hear what he thought to her. Words were easy to communicate to her, but something like sight was a bit more complicated.

Jaune's vision started to get darker and darker until he could barely see.

Salem was taking control of his vision. As a teen raised during the scroll age, the best way he could describe it was that the 'video' of what he was seeing was going to Salem's brain instead of his. He was the one seeing it, but it wasn't 'saved' to his brain, it was forwarded to Salem's instead.

It only worked for sight according to her, and she hasn't led him wrong before.

His vision came back suddenly, he squinted as his readjusted his eyes.

 **'Jaune, that isn't a beard. That is just fuzzy patches on your face, please shave it to save you the embarrassment.'**

As if she heard, Neo handed him a steak knife, looking at him expectantly.

Jaune looked at her blandly.

"Really?"

* * *

"Jaune! Got my coffee?"

Jaune glared at his 'boss'.

"I thought you didn't drink coffee, Roman."

The criminal shrugged as he took a sip of the warm drink before taking the cup and setting it far away from the table he was standing over.

"Look at this kid," he said as he gestured to a regular dinner table. "This is why I need coffee."

Laying on top of it was a giant map covered with marking with pictures and written comments laying above certain areas.

"This," Roman explained, "is the game plan in one week."

"One week?" Jaune questioned as he started to look at the map. "Before the Vytal festival? Isn't that a bad idea? There's going to be thousands of people coming from all over the world, and Atlas is handling security. That's a lot of eyes and a lot of guns all in a tight place..."

"You're right," Roman said, Jaune could already feel the 'but' he was going to say. "The Vytal festival may be heavily secured, but what _type_ of security are we talking about?"

"Huh?"

Roman gestured to the map, pointing the docks—there was a grin on his face the entire time.

"This is where a massive shipment of extra dust used for emergency situations, like power outages or something, will be coming in. The Schnee have already sent the amount needed to run the festival—this stuff is purely precaution."

Jaune decided not to comment as Roman paused—he knew the criminal got rather pissy when someone cut him off when he was explaining one of his 'genius' plans.

"And now here's the beauty of this plan. During a Friday night a week before the Vytal festival, where every gambler in the Remnant will be trying to make big, there are going to be a lot of soldiers and cops walking around. But they're not there to stop criminals like me—they are there to prevent the civilians from hurting each other or a terrorist going full massacre."

"So the security will be too busy with the civilians and populated areas rather than the docks."

"Exactly! And all the bragging Atlas is saying about how secure they are making Vale, well that's only gonna drag every security officer in the country into a sense of security."

"A false one..."

Roman cackled maniacally.

"Yes! So while Vale is having one of the most lucrative days in it's existence, we are going to go to the docks and steal millions in Dust!"

Jaune looked over the map, Raven hammered into his head to ALWAYS analyze the situation. There was no such thing as the perfect plan, and if there was then nobody has ever assembled it.

And most likely nobody would.

"How are we going to unload all the boxes? That's gonna take a lot of man power... and a lot of money to pay for that manpower."

Roman practically hopped in glee.

"Oh and it gets better!" he yelled. "I got my hands on good, cheap labor!"

Jaune raised an eyebrow.

Roman pointed to the blank area of the map, where there was a drawing of a rugged animal with three slashed through it.

Jaune's eyes widened as he recognized it.

"W-what!?"

"Yup! We're going on a business venture with the White Fang! Oh, and you're gonna be my representative!"

Jaune's jaw dropped.

* * *

Jaune took a deep breath to try and calm himself—it wasn't his first, and most likely wouldn't be his last.

It was the only advice that Raven told him when he called her.

 _'It's fine,' she said. 'Just calm down and take deep breaths.'_

And when he asked her what the fuck he was going to do?

 _'How should I know? That's never happened to me before.'_

A spy going to make friends with the _fucking_ White Fang.

He was going to get destroyed.

He was an Arc, enemy to Faunus.

Raven insisted that if he was going to continue using Crocea Mors as his weapon he needed to know the history of it. The sword was names 'Yellow Death', which Jaune found out the meaning why in horror.

He knew his family were war heroes... but what made them heroic was a bit of a sensitive topic.

It was a nightmare for any opposing army during the Great War, a simple man with a simple sword that looks harmless at first—but will then kill entire platoons. And it got even more famous, or in Jaune's own opinion infamous, during the Faunus Rebellions.

Apparently his ancestors were kinda racist... like violent racist.

Like killing hundreds, if not thousands, of Faunus who were doing nothing but fighting for their equality.

The 'Death' in 'Yellow Death' suited it quite well. 'Yellow' was still up for interpretations, but he assumed it was because of the blonde hair that a lot of his family had.

White Fang weren't exactly the bad guys—even though it was so simple to say that. The only true enemies were the Grimm, not people. The White Fang were extreme, but they were only fighting for equality.

It wasn't their fault they were discriminated for something as superficial as bunny ears or a tail.

He didn't want to be on bad terms with any Faunus, especially the White Fang. Hopefully he wouldn't be as hated as the Schnee, but he knew there was no way he would be accepted perfectly fine.

His genes were soaked in too much blood for that.

* * *

"Ready kid?" Roman asked as the Bullhead they were on landed.

It was currently the same trio as the Dust robbery a few nights prior. Roman seemed to always have Neo somewhere close by, and Jaune knew Roman was using him as a scapegoat in case anything went wrong.

There was no other reason he would be here other than that. Roman is trying a shady deal and he needs someone to throw into the fire if he couldn't control it.

 **'Jaune,'** Salem projected her voice in his mind, **'You can't assume everyone is trying to ruin you.'**

Why else would Roman want him? He was nothing special.

 **'No Jaune, you are more special than anybody on this planet... you just don't know it yet.'**

Jaune smiled.

'Thanks Salem,' he thought to her.

Somewhere far away from him, Salem smirked maliciously.

He didn't know how true she really was.


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing**

* * *

 _'...do you understand?'_

 _'I do, it was all my fault.'_

 _'You know we cannot allow you to continue here after what you've done...'_

 _'Yes... I do...'_

* * *

It was nerve wracking when a massive group of White Fang met them in the ruins of Mountain Glenn.

There were at least thirty of them, and no doubt more waiting to ambush them from the shadows at any given moment.

Jaune knew that in a fight he would probably do little. Roman could hold his own—Jaune had little knowledge of the masterminds capabilities, but he did make everything seem so easy.

And Neo? Jaune could safely say he had no idea what the hell Neo could do. Not like he could ask her.

Well he could ask, but receiving an answer was the difficult part.

"Hello there!" Roman said cheerily as he sauntered over the White Fang.

"Roman Torchwick, I assume?" a rather threatening man with red hair, a long black coat, and a _scary_ Grimm mask asked.

"In the flesh," Roman said with a tip of his hat. "Nice to meet you in real life, Adam Taurus."

Taurus? Did nobody else notice how ironic his name was? Especially if he was bull Faunus like Jaune presumed.

Adam looked at him—and Jaune noticed that Neo was nowhere to be found, which actually made Jaune feel a little safer.

Neo was probably waiting just in case things went wrong.

"Who are you?" Adam asked without any tact, not that he really needed it—the sword he had surely made up for that.

"Jaune," was the only answer he could muster. He really didn't want to drop the A-bomb (Arc bomb) on them just yet, hopefully a deal would be cut out before they found out—which may just be the only way he got out of Glenn alive.

Jaune couldn't see Adam's eyes, but he presumed that the terrorist was scrutinizing every little detail he showed.

"It's a bit of a stretch to call Jaune my left hand man," Roman said. "But it's probably the most appropriate term to describe him to you with."

Aww... Roman did care.

After a few moments Adam nodded slightly.

"Let's go," he said as he walked away.

Jaune let out a breath that he knew he was holding.

* * *

Walking through the tunnels of a dead city made Jaune feel on edge. To think that once apon a time there were thousands of people living here, that the halls used to be filled with happiness and hope—and now all that's left are blood stains and remnants of dead ambition.

Plus the group of human hating hybrids that wanted any excuse to kill him also made him feel on edge.

... and the gun shots echoing throughout the base, that didn't help either.

"So... any reason for the constant gunshots?" Jaune couldn't help but ask.

"It's the Grimm," Adam said simply, like it was common knowledge.

"You say 'the Grimm' like I should know about it," Jaune said slowly, his brain racing with thought. "I should know, shouldn't I?"

Adam looked at Roman with a presumably raised eyebrow.

"Left hand?" was all he asked.

Roman shrugged.

"Meh... maybe I went a bit too far with that. Jaune's more like a left foot... actually no—he doesn't really provide stability. He's like a... a spleen. You can lose it to survive, but you'll miss it when it's gone because it actually had uses to it."

Jaune didn't really mind that Roman was comparing him to the most underrated organ—it was better than what he actually was.

A parasite... one that will kill its host in due time.

A parasite, one that was delivered by a Raven.

Jaune would have chuckled if he was in a different situation—that was a good one. No doubt Raven would punch him if he said it to her, but good nonetheless.

"Well... instead of wasting time explaining it to him, he can make himself useful," Adam said. "It sounds like these Grimm are getting a bit too out of hand."

Jaune wanted to groan—there was no way Roman would let him refuse. They needed to get the White Fang to trust them, and fighting alongside them was one of the best ways. It was without a doubt the fastest way to get their respect...

"Lead the way," was all he could say.

Adam looked at a man to his side and nodded at him.

 _Great._

It just happened to be the _biggest_ guy among them, with the _full Grimm decal mask_ , and the _tribal tattoos_ on his arm.

If Mama Arc ever taught him anything—it was that you need to be serious about getting a tattoo. And if Elder Sister Arc ever told him anything—it was that anybody willing to get a tattoo that had absolutely no meaning to it at all, then watch the hell out.

Oh, and maybe the _motherfucking chainsaw_ on his back didn't help either.

Jaune wordlessly followed him though, not wanting to experience just how skilled the man was at his unorthodox weapon.

 **'Well out of all your acquaintances, how many have complicated weapons compared to regular?'**

Jaune thought about Salem's words deeply.

Team RWBY, all complicated. Team NPR, all complicated. CFVY? Coco Adel's weapons was enough 'complicated' to pass around—a handbag machine gun... really?

But, out of every Hunter he knew, he was the only one without a hi-tech transforming weapon.

Did that make _him_ the unorthodox one?

 **'Makes you special.'**

Jaune wanted to laugh sarcastically, but the rippling of Chainsaw Guy's muscle made him keep his mouth shut.

* * *

"Lieutenant!" one of the Faunus screamed as they approached.

"What's happening?" Chainsaw yelled back.

So he was a Lieutenant...

"There was a surge in Grimm and- wait... is that a human?"

Jaune sighed as most of the Faunus that was SUPPOSE to be fending off Grimm started to look at him.

"Hey!" the Lieutenant yelled, infuriated. "Why do you care for a human! FIGHT THE GRIMM!"

That immediate snapped them out of the trance they were in.

"S-sir!" the same Faunus started. "There was a surge in Grimm—it was nothing serious, but then a Grimm we have never seen before came out of nowhere!"

Jaune gulped.

"How bad is it?" he asked.

The Faunus looked at him in fear.

"B-bad, sir."

"He is _not_ 'sir'," Lieutenant hissed angrily. "No humans deserve to control us."

"Hey," Jaune tried to defend the mortified Faunus, "he's been through a lot, cut him some slack."

Lieutenant shoved him. "No! You humans don't understand! You have all these defenses and all these Hunters willing to die for you! What do we have!? Nothing! They want us out of their walls! They want us out here in the wilderness so they can live in their _oh so important lives!"_

Jaune gritted his teeth—no, he would never understand what drove Faunus to such levels.

But he could damn well try to fix it.

"This isn't about human," Jaune said lowly. "Look around you, it's nothing but Faunus trying to survive out here. So why the _fuck_ are you talking so much about humans when your people are dying out there?"

The Lieutenant's blank mask stared at him.

"And just so you know," Jaune started as he approached the battleground, "You weren't the only one outed to protect their ' _oh so important lives_...'"

* * *

Jaune jumped in front of a downed Faunus and raised his shield, blocking a massive stab of a Death Stalker's tail. Jaune felt his knees buckle underneath the force but held strong.

 _This_ was 'nothing serious'?

If it wasn't for Raven being a slave driver he'd be nothing but a paste on the ground.

Lieutenant jumped over them and drove his chainsaw into the Grimm, his weapon tearing through the Death Stalker's thick armor and killing it.

"You okay?" Jaune asked the Faunus he saved, who nodded weakly. "Get back to the base, we have reinforcements coming."

The Faunus nodded once more before running away, Jaune kept any eye on him for a little longer to make sure he wasn't attacked again before rushing towards more Grimm.

He almost wanted to smile as he saw Beowolves approaching him—a year ago he would have ran in fear.

Hell, three months ago he would have ran in fear.

He ducked underneath a swinging arm and rammed his shield into the Grimm, before twisting around and bisecting another one horizontally.

It was only a small, rather bold pack of Beowolves that traveled this far up the battlefield. They weren't anything too serious, but Jaune knew the smarter ones were in the distance—waiting for the right moment.

Jaune ducked underneath the jaws of a Beowolf and drove his shield into its knees, making it fall to the ground before he stabbed it in the head.

He looked over to see the Lieutenant tearing through a group of Death Stalkers with his chainsaw.

Best to stay away from that.

Jaune let out a surprised yell as he was rammed in the back and sent flying away.

He groaned as he forced himself to stand up—his Aura may have helped, but damn it hurt.

The assailant was a Boarbatusk of a slightly larger than average size. It dragged its front legs across the ground as it lunged towards him, curling into a ball and spinning as it approached.

Jaune kneeled on one knee and raised his shield in front of him.

Using a _spoon_ was going to he difficult after this.

The Boarbatusk ran straight into his shield, pushing him back a few feet by the pure strength.

Jaune felt his grip tighten as he fought to stay firm.

He raised his sword and stabbed around his shield into the Boarbatusk's side, making it squeal in pain as it died.

Jaune took a moment to catch his breath. Damn, it was tough to fight a literal army of Grimm... the minute you kill one of them two more came from the shadows—it was a no win situation.

And then he noticed the ground before him shaking.

 _What?_

Jaune's eyes widened as he dived away from where he was standing, barely preventing being eaten by the mouth that came out of the ground.

* * *

It was a snake.

A massive snake.

A huge snake.

A gigantic _fucking_ snake.

Jaune could safely say that he was not afraid of snakes.

But that was NOT a normal snake.

He watched in mute horror as the King Taijitu slithered out of the ground. It's head easily bigger than a Bullhead by a significant amount—and then it's body...

It just kept slithering out, more and more and more and more...

"Holy..."

And the worst part was how it's eyes _never left his_ the entire time.

"L-Lieutenant!" Jaune could help but yell. "Help!"

* * *

Jaune ducked as the Lieutenant flew over him after being hit by the massive King Taijitu.

That thing wasn't a normal King Taijitu, it was way to big.

"Damn it!" he yelled in anger as he was forced to jump away from the massive jaws of the newly dubbed 'Emperor Taijitu.'

Taijitu's had one distinct factor to them that was their trademark—the two heads one either side of its body.

And this one had one head outside of the ground while the other one was still underground.

It was a dual threat, if one of them couldn't hit you the other would.

The only advantage that the living had was that since there was two of them, Jaune and Lieutenant, the two heads were trying to separate the load. The bottom head was heading for Jaune while the top one was heading for his current partner.

Jaune felt the ground rumble slightly and jumped away quickly, the entire battlefield was covered in underground tunnels—whether the Emperor Taijitu made them or not was unknown, but what he did know was that he had no idea where was safe and where was not.

The Arc turned his shield back into a sheath for mobility purposes—a shield wouldn't even help, a single teeth of the snake was bigger than his entire body.

The Lieutenant jumped towards the above ground Taijitu, always on the offensive, and Jaune watched as he landed on the back of the snake and drove his chainsaw into it.

The Taijitu wasn't even fazed in the slightest. It whipped its head around and sent him flying off.

Jaune realized he was standing in the same spot too long and lunged away as the ground collapsed below him, revealing a dirty white snake of equal size.

He couldn't even get a single hit on it. It was bigger, fast, stronger, and smarter than he was—what could he do?

Why was everything better than him? First Cardin, then the _damn_ Ursa, and now the snake?

At least he knew how to deal with Cardin, the prick was arrogant to the core an-

Wait.

Cardin was bigger, faster, stronger, and (at least in school) smarter than him—and what did that make him?

Arrogant.

It was just like what Nora said.

 _'The bigger they are, the harder they fall when you break their legs!'_

"Lieutenant!" Jaune yelled to get the Faunus' attention. "Follow me, I got a plan!"

And with that he rushed the Grimm.

The black part of the snake looked between the two attackers before lunging at Lieutenant, since it was already used to fighting him.

'Got you,' Jaune thought channeled his Aura.

He launched off the ground with his Aura and flew over the black Taijitu's head, landing behind it.

And then he waited.

He suddenly ran to the side and narrowly avoided being hit as the white half of the snake erupted from the ground.

Jaune expanded his shield and threw it at the white's face.

"Take that you stupid snake!" he yelled. "My dad used to chase us with garden snakes deadlier than you!"

His ploy worked. The white half hissed angrily and rushed toward him.

Jaune immediately ran towards the Lieutenant.

"Hey!" Jaune yelled. "You know how to tie a knot!"

Jaune could have sword he could _feel_ the Faunus smirk.

Lieutenant ran towards him, the black head following.

As they got close to each other Jaune jumped high into the air above the Faunus and to his left, as Lieutenant slid underneath the white head to his right.

When he landed Jaune immediately turned around and started to run back where he came from, as did his partner.

This time, Jaune slid underneath the black head exactly like the Lieutenant did and the Lieutenant jumped high in the air exactly like Jaune.

As they turned around again the Arc ran towards the White Fang member and stuck his hand out, the Lieutenant grabbed it and threw him in the air, before jumping up himself.

Both the snake heads, so intent on catching their own prey, didn't notice as the ran into each other. They tried to withdraw, but found themselves stuck in a rudimentary knot.

The Emperor Taijitu fell to the ground, unable to move as both head's attempted to pull in a different direction.

"White Fang!" The Lieutenant yelled. "Fire! And don't let up until even the ashes are gone!"

Jaune was more than happy to dive away and run as far away from the Taijitu as possible as it was assaulted by multiple bullets and artillery.

He smirked as it was lit on fire.

* * *

Jaune let out a small groan as he sat in a small chair.

"How are you not sore in the slightest?" he asked the Lieutenant, who was standing perfectly fine.

"After fighting for a long, nothing short of a life threatening injury will keep me down."

Jaune only winced at the feeling in his legs.

Ren channeled his Aura to enhance his physical abilities all the time! How the hell was he not complaining every day about the soreness that happens afterwards!?

How did _nobody at all_ complain? Surely Ruby with her super speed must hurt after a while, the human body wasn't capable of such feats.

Roman walked into the small waiting room they were in.

"Kiddo! I heard you kicked some serious Grimm ass out there, I see you've been learning well!"

Learning from Raven—not him. The ass kicking that he and Neo calls 'training' didn't really help at all.

"How was the negotiations?" Jaune asked, wanting to get his mind off his bruised ribs and aching legs.

Roman smirked.

"We came to a agreement. Open up the champagne, kid, because we are officially business partners with the White Fang now."

The Lieutenant nodded slightly.

"Very well, I must make my leave," he said as he started to walk away. "Oh, and good plan... _Arc_."

And then he was gone.

"Damn, that guy needs to get laid," Roman commented after a moment.

Jaune could only nod weakly.


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing**

* * *

 _"Jaune?"_

 _"Oh... hey guys."_

 _"Jaune, we're not going to avoid it. What happened?"_

 _"I... I tried..."  
_

 _"To save them?"_

 _"No... to kill them."_

* * *

"How high risk is the plan?"

Jaune grunted as he ducked underneath Raven's kick and attempted to shove her down, but she span out of the way elegantly.

"Not high at all," he answered as he threw a punch that was easily batted out of the way. "At least according to Roman."

Raven nodded as she punched him in the temple and sent him flying backwards.

"And do you think the White Fang will betray you?"

Jaune laid on the ground for a moment as his head span.

"After a made a giant shoelace out of a Taijitu," he started after a moment, "I hope not."

Raven nodded and drew her sword.

Jaune sighed as he drew Crocea Mors.

* * *

"Raven," Jaune asked as he laid in the grass, they were in a wide open field on a beautiful day. A day that made Jaune miss his home, miss Beacon... days like this he would be spending with his friends...

"What?" she asked as she looked at the boy, she was not event tussled at all despite the previous fight.

Jaune stared at a lone cloud floating across the sky—he could feel the shallow cuts she gave him healing.

"Why am I here?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

Jaune sat up and looked at her.

"I mean, why me? Why do you train me? Why do you trust me enough to spy on Torchwick?"

"Is there a reason I shouldn't?"

Jaune clenched his fists, he knew what she was trying to do, trying to avoid the question.

"You know _exactly_ what I did."

Raven glared at him intensely.

"I do. I _know_ that you were nothing more than a spiteful brat that got another team nearly killed for revenge, that you may have ended the career of a talented team because they bullied you. But what _I_ saw when we met was a kid with a good heart that was tainted by the world..."

"So why?"

Raven looked away.

"I feel like I owed you," she said after a noticeable pause.

Jaune only stared.

"I... I had a daughter," she explained. "And I had to abandon her for my job, I didn't want to—but I _had_ to leave. And when I saw the blonde hair and bright eyes of Jaune Arc, I couldn't help but think of my daughter Yang. When I saw how lost you were, I couldn't help but think about how she might feel about me leaving."

Jaune stayed silent for a few moments.

He didn't expect her to come clean.

And as much as he wanted to dig even more when she was vulnerable, he wouldn't, because it took a lot courage to tell him what she did.

He would give her a break—just like the many she gave him.

"Finally you admit your relation to Yang," he said with faux amusement.

She rose an eyebrow.

"You look too like her to be a coincidence," he explained. "I could kinda tell what her dad looked like by comparing her to Ruby, but you guys are almost exactly the same—if you ignore the dress sense and attitude."

Raven looked at him.

"You have potential too," she said quietly. "We all agreed that you had the potential to be one of us, that was another reason."

"One of us?"

"In due time."

Jaune only looked back up to the sky, relishing in the sun light.

"So, are you in any way angry that the guy you had Yang with had Ruby only a year later?"

He owed Raven a lot, the least he could do was change the topic of discussion to something a bit more comfortable

'Comfortable,' he thought, amused, as he could feel Raven's sudden annoyance—it was a little victory for him to make her lose her composure.

"Just a little," she said tightly. "I mean, when I vanished I thought it would take him a little longer than a _year_ to get over me. And maybe if he didn't get over me with my best _fucking_ friend I wouldn't be a little angry."

"A little angry is pushing it, right?" he asked, humoring her.

"Yes," she said, sounding as dignified as ever now. "'Little' is a bit too much, I was barely perturbed in the slightest."

There as a silence. Jaune found it as comfortable, but he knew Raven was deep in thought.

"Does she know you're alive?" he asked, referring to Yang.

"She likes to think that I am, but she has no proof."

"And Ruby with her mother?" He knew Ruby's mom was apparently dead, they had gotten close enough over the few months he was at Beacon to find out.

"She's gone."

"Define 'gone?'"

Raven didn't answer, and Jaune didn't blame her in the slightest.

He knew what if felt like to lose the people close to him. To be exiled by society...

But he was outed because of his choices, he had no idea what made Raven abandon her family.

"Jaune," Raven said as a portal opened behind her, their time together was done.

"Yes, Raven?"

Another portal opened next to him, no doubt it would take him back to Vale so he can continue with Torchwick.

"You'll get all the answers you need soon, just... be careful. We're not the only ones who saw potential in you."

She walked into the portal and left, going who knows where.

Jaune stood up and dusted himself off.

What was he involved with? How did he get into such a situation?

He could have been sitting in combat class right now, watching the likes of Pyrrha or Weiss beat the crap out of people while he cheered them on.

"Damn," he muttered as he stepped into the portal.

* * *

"Hey Jaune! Where were you, kid?"

Jaune shrugged at Roman's question.

"I was training myself in the forest, sorry."

"Eh," Roman said. "It's fine. Maybe it's my fault for forgetting that you didn't have a Scroll. Next time, though, let me know—we don't have much time until the heist and I need to make sure everything is in check."

"Plus I'm closer to the White Fang than you are."

"Exactly! Apparently your selfless acts sit a lot better than my charming personality!"

"Can't win them all, Roman."

"That would make things so much simpler, wouldn't it?"

Jaune could only nod.

* * *

"Neo, can we please go? I'm gonna be arrested if the cops recognize me."

Neo shook her head as she continued to eat the chocolate covered pancakes in front of her. She was literally a little girl in both size and taste preferences... except the fact that a regular little girl probably couldn't crush the entire police force on her own.

Jaune sighed as he hid his face in his hood.

It was a clause in his ruling. Jaune Arc could not be within 50 miles of Beacon, which was basically all of Vale, due to his crimes, it was harsh, but Jaune did nothing to reduce the punishment—he deserved it.

That was the biggest issue with being with Roman, he was just as notorious as the orange haired criminal in the eyes of the law when they were in Vale—which was Roman's home territory. Actually, he may be a bit more wanted, Roman was a criminal, but he wasn't outright banned from the country.

They had a tracker in his Scroll so that it would notify them if he was within the radius of Beacon, but Raven was adamant that they were using it to track where he went and destroyed it.

Roman gave him a pat on the back for his (Raven's) insight.

"Neo! Ice cream on a pancake!? You're gonna get diabetes!"

She looked at him blandly.

(Un)Luckily, Jaune had been around the unique colored girl enough to somewhat be able to translate her, nowhere near the level of Torchwick, but somewhat well.

And she conveying that she would have gotten diabetes a LONG time ago if an ice cream pancake could do it.

Jaune had no idea how old Neo was, her size made her look like a teenager, but she was probably in her mid to late twenties if she's been with Roman for a while...

Maybe even thirties—Jaune shivered at the thought and decided to file the idea away forever.

"Fine... I'm sure you'll be fine... but you know that I don't have money, right?"

She froze, staring at him.

"Neo? You _do_ know that I literally lived in the woods until Roman found me... and that he hasn't payed me at all since he's taken me in?"

She stared at her food, then him, then back to her food.

"Please tell me you knew that. I really don't have money, I don't even carry a wallet with me anymore."

Her hands started to tremble.

"Neo, PLEASE tell me you have money..."

She looked at him and offered a shy smile.

Jaune knew exactly what it meant.

"Well then." He stood up, walked around the table, sat down next to Neo, and wrapped his arms around her.

She tried to wriggle her way out, but Jaune stayed firm.

"There is no way you are leaving me with the bill," he whispered harshly in her ear. "They're gonna call the cops and they'll arrest me at first sight."

The duo knew that Neo could beat the living crap out of him at any moment, but she was in no mood to fight and elected to sit still and wait for the perfect moment to escape.

"Come on!" A energetic female voice yelled. "It's jumbo pancake day!"

Neo could feel Jaune stiffen besides her.

"N-Neo," he said lowly. " _They_ are coming. We... we can use them as a distraction to escape, okay?"

She nodded.

"Nora wait!" Jaune flinched as he heard Pyrrha yell. He knew Ren was never too far from Nora, so the entire team JNPR were about to be in the same place for the first time in months.

He felt his heart stop as they all walked in.

They looked like angels to him—damn it was so long since he last saw them.

They walked in and started to head to the counter, Jaune grabbed Neo's pancake and got ready.

"Free pancake! You have to fight for it!" he yelled as he threw the pancake high into the air.

"MINE!"

"Nora NO!"

The criminal duo ran as the store was engulfed in an explosion.

* * *

"So you ran into your old team, what's the big deal?"

Jaune glared at Roman.

"What's wrong? They were my team! I miss them..."

Roman shook his head. "Kid, look... you got close to them—I get it. It's tough to let them go, but you _need_ to."

"What do you know?" Jaune asked miserably.

Roman only gave him a weak smile.

"Kid, I wasn't born a notorious criminal. I chose this path after a experience not too different from yours. I had a family once too, if you could believe it, but I moved on and couldn't be happier."

Jaune sighed and nodded.

"That helps, I'm not sure why it does, but it does."

"What can I say? I have a way with words."

"Then you talk to the White Fang."

Roman shook his head.

"They value strength, kid. I haven't proved myself yet, but you have."

And that was the issue.

* * *

"...and you will not be in attendance during the heist, right?"

 _"Yes,"_ Adam said from Roman's Scroll. _"We received an anonymous tip that Atlas is planning on hitting one of our safe houses, we have a lot of liberated Faunus that we have to evacuate."_

"It's fine," Jaune assured. "I just wasn't sure you were comfortable leaving some of your men with us, I assume Lieutenant us coming with you?"

 _"Which one?"_

"Chainsaw."

 _"Yes, he's coming with me. And make sure Roman knows that I'll be visiting him personally if he damages or misuses my men."_

"According to Roman, the only issues we should encounter are the few dock guards and maybe the cops if things go bad... but to be honest, I'm scare of what we _shouldn't_ run into."

 _"Hn. You got a lot more humility than Torchwick, that's for sure."_

"If you have low standards then it can only get better."

There as a silence.

 _"...I'll be in touch."_

The call ended.

Jaune let out a breath.

"Damn, even over the phone that guy scares me."

* * *

It was time.

The sponsorship for the Vytal Festival all happened today. After the sponsors were announced and some bets were placed the Vytal Festival would only be a handful of days away—with the fights a few weeks after.

It was a massive, month long festival. It was the crowned jewel of the Remnant, filled with everything the world wanted to see.

There were giant music shows, entertaining stunts, technology being released, and most important of them all—the fights between academies.

Because even in a celebration of the peace between countries, they still had to prove who was better—and since they couldn't do it through war, they chose the next best thing.

Jaune felt a pit in his chest at the thought of security.

The word on the street was that the high up officials were appointing Atlas to cover security, which wasn't a good thing. Atlas always had an abundance of soldiers at the festival, but according to Roman the council was scared of the White Fang enough to bring out the big guns.

None of it was public knowledge. Jaune never felt so... informed before compared to when Roman mentioned the information to him.

He had information that only the Council of Vale, and their most trusted advisers, knew.

How informed was Roman Torchwick? The guy who Ruby foiled? The guy who decides to get ice cream a few minutes after he downs a police aircraft?

If contacts and information were a good measure of a dangerous person—then Jaune never realized how dangerous Roman really was.

* * *

"Hey, excuse me!"

The security guard looked at him and offered a friendly smile.

"Yeah? You need directions?"

Jaune nodded.

"Uhh... yeah. I need directions."

"To where?"

"The nearest dust shipment."

"Hu-"

Neo hit the guard in the back of the head with her umbrella, sending him sprawling to the floor.

Jaune reached into his backpack and pulled out thick tape and handcuffs.

"Neo, helped me drag him to somewhere secluded."

She looked at him and tilted her head diagonally.

"Neo, please?"

She turned around and walked away, most likely to find more guards to knock out.

Jaune sighed and tossed the cuffs to one of the many White Fang behind him.

"You know what to do, make sure all the guards are bound, alright?"

The Faunus nodded and Jaune rushed into the port, ready to attack the rest of the security.

* * *

Neo did most of the work, Jaune was more of a distraction than anything.

"Roman, we're good," he spoke into his radio (the Pumpkin Pete Toy Radio, apparently it had encrypted signals).

There was no response, but Jaune could hear the Bullheads starting to approach.

He was wandering around the far outskirts of the port, just in case a random person just happened to be around. Being thorough in an operation like this was the difference between a happy Adam Taurus or an angry Adam Taurus.

And the last thing Jaune wanted was a visit from the angry Adam Taurus.

Jaune could vaguely hear Roman shout directions to the Faunus, tuning out them out to search a rather secluded alleyway.

 _"-Oh, what the-"_

 _"Nobody move!"_

Jaune froze as his radio went off.

 _"Woah!"_ Roman's voice came from it. _"Take it easy there, little lady."_

 _"Brothers of the White Fang!"_ a female voice that Jaune had heard before said.

It wasn't a voice he heard often, but he knew exactly who it was.

"Fuck. What is Blake doing here!?"

He didn't want to hurt her, they didn't talk much, but he considered her a friend. And no doubt she would recognize his face when she saw him...

 **'Jaune,'** the soothing voice of Salem spoke in his head, **'Look, in the shadows.'**

He looked into the darkest spot he could find in the alley, his eyes narrowed as he made out the outline of something in the darkness.

He picked it up.

It was a cloak.

"What is this?"

 **'This will keep you discreet.'**

Jaune put in on.

"So does it make it so I disappear when I stand in shadows or something?" he asked excitedly.

Or maybe it was impenetrable? O maybe even invisibl-

 **'No, it is a black cloak... that's it.'**

Well he had to ask.

"What about my weapons though? The giant Arc symbol on my shield doesn't help..."

 **'I'm not sure, but you should hurry before your boss dies.'**

He sighed—just like Raven.

Jaune tried rubbing dirt on the shield with little success, and the only liquid around was water...

He winced as an idea came to him.

Taking his blade, Jaune brought it to his arm and _cut_. He moaned slightly in pain as blood started to flow freely from his body.

He rubbed his own blood onto his shield, smearing it all over his family symbol.

* * *

"He's mine!" Blake yelled as she rushed Torchwick.

Her blade was blocked though.

"I don't think so," Jaune said lowly, trying to keep his voice from being recognized.

"Kid!" Roman said happily. "What took you so long?"

"This was suppose to be quiet," Jaune growled. "But you HAD to be flashy and put explosive rounds in your cane."

Roman smirked as he lifted it up.

"You know me... want to take the monkey boy?"

"Do I have a choice?"

* * *

Jaune ducked underneath the swing of Monkey's nunchucks.

"Your name?" he asked, "Calling you 'Monkey' is just a bit too racist for me."

"Sun."

Jaune nodded slightly as he rushed forwards.

He raised his shield and charged. Sun flipped over him and attempted to hit him in the back, but a shot from Torchwick sent him flying.

Jaune swiveled around quickly and raised his sword towards the flying Faunus...

Before opting to bash him with his shield instead.

He couldn't kill Blake or her friend—they were the good guys.

Jaune opted to sheath Crocea Mors instead—a good bruising never hurt anyone.

He rushed Blake, who had her back turned fighting Roman.

He swung his sword, but as he hit she melted into nothingness.

Jaune felt his instincts flare and he ducked underneath her weapon and span around. He grabbed her foot right before it hit him and slammed her into the ground. She let out a grunt in pain as he raised his sword in the air and-

He was hit by Sun before he could finish her off.

Jaune thanked Raven for his training as he flipped twice in the air and landed on his feet.

The Arc rushed forwards again, giving the Faunus duo no break as he attempted to bash Sun's head in.

Blake, still on the ground, swept his feet out from under him.

He just managed to extend his shield right before Sun slammed his nunchucks into him. He felt the nunchucks explode with some sort of explosive ammo that sent him flying into the ground.

And then Roman fired his cane into them again.

Jaune savored the few seconds of air time he had before he landed on his back painfully.

He looked over to his side and noticed Blake, dazed, laying there.

He rushed over and slammed his shield into her temple, sending her to unconsciousness.

Jaune wanted to yell in triumph as her somehow managed to beat _Blake_ —even in his dreams he lost against her.

His victory was short lived as he hurt the sound of weapons colliding.

Roman had just managed to stop Sun from bashing his head in by shoving his cane between the Faunus' nunchucks and getting them tangled around it. Making his cane point straight at the blonde boy's head.

Jaune could practically read Roman's mind.

"Roman wait!" he yelled.

And with that he ran towards the Faunus and slammed his shield into his head. Sun wasn't completely knocked out, so Jaune had to do it a second time to fully finish the job.

Better a headache than no head at all.

"Good job kid!" Roman said as Jaune panted.

"Hey!" A voice yelled.

Jaune wanted to groan.

"Red!" Roman yelled to Ruby, sounding ecstatic. "It's a bit late, isn't it? Have you been drinking coffee, because you should be-"

He fired his own cane before he finished.

"It was a bit or a stretch," Roman admitted as hit hit Ruby. "I should have just gone with the bedtime line..."

The orange hair girl Ruby was with suddenly attacked. Swords started to float around her back as she started to skewer some of the White Fang agents.

Jaune couldn't allow anymore of Adam's men to get hurt. He rushed forwards and raised his shield—feeling the swords pound against it heavily.

He rose his sword and swiped vertically, cutting the strings holding the swords and making his foe frown.

Suddenly the Bullheads came in, firing their machines guns at the girl.

Jaune stopped his charge and pulled out his radio.

"Abort!" he yelled into it. "Do not fire! Take the Dust and go!"

Were they crazy? They would just kill a girl?

He noticed the girl channeling some sort of green energy in front of her and aiming at the Bullheads.

 _That_ looked bad—the giant green light screamed 'dangerous'.

He rushed her as fast as he could in an attempt to stop her.

She noticed him and elected to aim the energy at him instead.

Jaune got down into his defensive position—kneeling with one knee with his shield in front of him.

She fired. A gigantic green laser was sent shooting towards him at speeds faster than he could track.

Jaune held firm for a few second, but in the end he was sent flying across the port.

His body slammed into a shipping container—he could briefly register pain before he blacked out.

* * *

He suddenly gasped.

There was a burning sensation all around him.

Jaune woke up and found red Dust all around him.

He shot up and stumbled away from the container he broke just in case it ignited.

 _"-kid! Kid!"_ the sound of Roman said from the radio as his hearing returned.

He fumbled around and grabbed his own radio, somehow it was still intact, and spoke.

"Roman... what happened?"

 _"We had to use you as a distraction, we got most of the Dust and got out of there."_

Before Jaune could reply he jumped out of the way and barely missed being fatally impaled by a scythe.

His Aura was in the red, but there was no way he was dying without a fight.

He leveled a glare with his opponent.

...If Ruby was capable of killing, that is.

"Who are you?" she asked forcefully.

Jaune's only response was to cough out some blood.

He noticed the newly awakened Blake and Sun approach them.

Damn.

"I," he started, "I am no-"

He noticed a reflection in Ruby's big silver eyes.

Jaune span around, dodging the flying body of an unknown assailant, and dug his elbow into his attacker.

A yellow figure landed in front of him with a yelp.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled in fear as she helped her sister up.

Shit. Reinforcements were here... and they weren't for him.

Jaune looked around desperately for a way out.

"You should stop," the cold voice of Weiss spoke from behind him. He could feel the cold poke of Myrtenaster against his spine—the blade threatening to paralyze him at any moment.

Jaune tried to take a deep breath to calm himself, but coughed as more blood flew from his mouth.

He could faintly feel it dripping from his nose also—the internal bleeding was bad.

"Who are you?" Ruby asked again.

He paused for a moment.

"A ghost."

All of them glared at him, and a giant sniper rifle was leveled at him.

Damn, Ruby's scythe was threatening.

"Try again," Yang said somewhat cockily.

"A dead man, if you're willing to pull the trigger." Jaune was trying to play a psychological game, hopefully he could make them slip up.

He noticed Ruby's eyes widen at the fact that she was threatening to end his life

"Don't listen to him," Yang said to her sister. "He knows he lost."

Jaune let out an amused snort.

"Hm. A certain person told me that you can only count an opponent out when they're dead."

"And who was that?" Blake asked, prying for information.

Jaune smirked.

"Raven Brawnen," he said clearly, noticing Yang's expression. "She looks a lot like you, Yang. If it wasn't for the hair I would have mistaken her for y-"

Yang roared as she rushed towards him.

 _Oh shit! RememberRaven'straining_ _RememberRaven'straining_ _RememberRaven'straining-_

Jaune grabbed Yang's wrist centimeters before it hit his face, spinning her around and knocking her into Weiss' weapon—the Schnee lost her grip on her weapon and it flew in the air.

Jaune grabbed it by the blade midair and pulled it towards him, flipping Yang's body and grabbing her.

Literally a second later he was holding Yang with both arms behind her back and Myrtenaster against her neck.

He hissed in pain as his hand bled freely—the only way to grab Weiss' weapon was to cut himself.

"Now then," he started as everyone leveled their weapons towards him, "Who lost?"

 _"Kid, you just did something magical, didn't you?"_

"You're still there?"

 _"Well I want to know what happens."_

"Well I'm still alive, obviously."

 _"Good. Oh, and we retrieved your weapons while they were too distracted interrogating you."_

Neo just became a legend in his books.

 _"Escape strategy?"_

"Working on it."

"You're not getting out of here," Yang said angrily in his grip. "The police are coming."

 **'Jaune,'** Salem spoke in his mind. **'Just hold them off for a bit longer and I can get you out of there.'**

Jaune felt a bit bad as he planned his next actions... he only had one idea on how to stall.

"Raven told me to never give up," he whispered in Yang's ear.

"You're lying!" she yelled.

"Lying about what?" he taunted. "Raven, with black hair and scary red eyes. Eyes that are a lot like yours when you use that Semblance of yours..."

He noticed Ruby gritting her teeth.

"Who do you think you are?" Weiss spoke angrily from Ruby's side.

"The man with your weapon and your teammate." Jaune paused for a moment. "Or woman... that would throw the police off, wouldn't it?"

"Why are you working for Torchwick," Ruby, always trying to find the good in people, asked. "He's nothing more than a selfish criminal, he didn't even come back for you."

 _"Hey!"_

"It's suicide to come get me," Jaune explained. "Plus I don't need his help to escape."

"And why is that?" Blake asked.

Jaune paused—a few seconds was the difference between life and death.

"Well first I'm gonna avoid the sword that the orange girl behind me is going to throw my way." He smirked at their looks. "And then I'm gonna vanish into nothingness like a fucking ninja."

At least, he hoped that would happen.

There was silence.

Jaune suddenly jerked Yang's gauntlets, making them fire into the container of red Dust he landed in.

There was a massive explosion and he jumped to the side, narrowly missing being skewered by the orange haired girl behind him.

His hood flew off, but the flames silhouetted him from view.

"You guys need to be careful," he spoke sincerely as his cloak started to send shadows around him. "You guys are going up against powerful people that can, and will, destroy you when they get the chance."

And with that he vanished into the shadows.

* * *

"You said it was just a regular cloak!"

 **'I didn't want to get your hopes up.'**

Jaune started to laugh more as he leaned against a tree—he had no idea where he was, and he could hardly care.

Like a fucking ninja!

He went up against RWBY (plus others) and won!

Well the orange girl blew the crap out of him, but ignoring that he did pretty well.

"I need to hug Raven the next time I see her! Her training saved my ass!"

"Did it?" a voice asked suddenly.

Jaune yelled in shock as Raven appeared _right next him_ _._

"Ahfuc-Rave-" Jaune started to cough, pounding his chest in as blood flew out of his mouth.

Her terrifying Grimm mask stared at him blankly—not even caring about the condition he was in.

"So, the risk was 'not high at all', right?"

Jaune groaned as his body ached—the Adrenalin was fading _fast_.

"It was going fantastic for at least ten minutes..."

"I was keeping an ear out on police channels, and I was hoping to hear about the heist _after_ it was finished. Not that my daughter's team was there and currently in a stand off with a mysterious assailant—which I knew was you."

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Because who else is stupid enough to try and hold a group of Hunter's off while the others escape?"

Jaune laughed sheepishly.

"I mean- Really it was... yeah, I'm stupid."

"At least you're alive."

"Just barely," Jaune admitted. "In the beginning I was fighting two Faunus, it would have been over for me quickly if it wasn't for Roman. And then there was some girl with a giant laser beam..." Jaune rubbed his chest. "Damn, it hurts."

Raven nodded as she inspected him.

"How did you escape?"

Jaune thought for a moment.

"What time is it?"

"You were last seen an hour ago."

What?

 **'You passed out after I transported you.'**

Oh.

"Well," Jaune started. "I blew up a giant container of Dust as distraction and ran as fast as my legs could let me. I didn't stop until a few minutes ago."

His entire cover was based on the fact that Raven had just teleported to him. If she arrived five minutes prior and had been watching him then he was done.

But luckily she nodded.

"Good, you did good."

"Thanks."

There was a silence. Jaune merely rested his head back against a tree as his Aura recharged—he didn't even have enough to heal his wounds.

"Jaune," Raven said after a minute.

"Yeah?"

"How's Yang?"

Jaune swallowed a lump in his throat.

"I had to hold her hostage," he admitted, knowing she winced under her mask. "I didn't hurt her, but I mentioned you to piss her off."

Luckily for him, Raven didn't get angry and kill him. Instead she nodded slowly, as if she was deep in thought.

"Does she know I teach you?" she asked.

She probably didn't want her daughter to think she was a criminal.

"She knows we met before and you gave me advice. You could pass it off as really anything—met at a bar or traveled to the same town together. I made sure to leave it open to interpretation."

Raven nodded again.

"Does she know it was you?"

"Nope," he said, popping the 'p'. "This new cloak is rather snug... a mask would be better though."

His less than subtle hint was noted.

"These mask are for members," she explained, referring to her own. "If you keep growing at your current rate you'll get one soon."

Jaune let out a grunt as an acknowledgment.

"Do you need help getting back?" she asked.

Jaune nodded.

"Yeah, and can you deliver Weiss' weapon back to her? Rapiers are not my style."


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothing**

* * *

 _"Jaune... please don't hide, we're your team. We know that you're suffering."_

 _"...I know. But what I want doesn't matter anymore. He has me under his thumb and he knows it."_

 _"Are you just going to let them control you?"_

 _"Pyrrha, I'm not sure who's controlling me. All I know is that I'm not one of them."_

* * *

"Calm down, kid."

Jaune just stared at Roman blandly.

"Is this a situation that I _should_ be calm about?"

Roman looked sheepish and didn't respond.

"I thought so! So please let me return to freaking out!"

"Look, kid," Roman said in an attempt to calm him down, "I know that you're scared, but all my boss wants is to speak to you for a little. She's scary, no doubt, but she's not going to kill you—I think she's far too interested in you to end you."

"And that's bad, isn't it? It would be better being dead than having her interested in me, right?"

There was a silence.

"Most likely."

* * *

Apparently, the actions that Jaune performed at the docks were not unnoticed—by both the law and Roman's boss.

He didn't know which one was worse, but he definitely trusted the law a lot more.

Roman had tried to give him everything he needed to know about her, but even Roman Torchwick had his limits.

 _"Her name is Cinder Fall. She's fucking good looking, but don't let that deceive you—she's an ugly one on the inside. She'll literally burn people alive for simply crossing her on the street, let alone crossing her on her quest to who knows what."_

And when he asked what would happen to him.

 _"She's going to make sure you are who you say you are. She'll talk all smoothly and trustingly, but she'll make sure you know who the boss is... and after that? She might decide you're more work than she wants to spend effort on or that you're alright. Either way, winning isn't an option."_

It was in one of Roman's many safe houses—one of the nicest the criminal owned. Which, for a man of class like Roman Torchwick, was pretty damn nice.

Jaune nervously straightened out invisible creases on his clothing as the elevator started to arrive to it's destination.

The penthouse of one of the nicest hotels in Vale.

 _How_ and _why_ Roman got such a nice place was unknown, but Jaune was pretty sure there were some greasy palms running the place.

The elevator chimed, and Jaune made sure the hood of his cloak was covering his head before he stepped out.

He was met by an extravagant setting, glass chandeliers and high end furniture decorated the absolutely stunning place. There was even a giant portrait on Roman hanging from one of the walls—anyone who came in would have a clear view of it.

Roman definitely wasn't hiding.

Was _this_ were he went whenever he left Jaune in a dark, dirty safe house?

"You can keep the shoes on," a voice that screamed 'smooth, sultry, and sexy' said. "I doubt Roman cares."

Jaune froze for a moment, before composing himself and walking deeper into Roman's abode.

There he saw her lounging on a couch.

Gorgeous was an understatement. She had black hair that hung down her back, which only accentuated her eyes—which shone with all the colors fire produces. Her figure was covered by an expensive looking dark red dress with orange designs. And the way she carried herself, the air of... of...

He shivered slightly.

Jaune wanted to look more, but he couldn't let a seductress know he was lured in.

Roman had given him the crash course in dealing with people like Cinder Fall—he said it wouldn't help much against someone of Cinder's quality, but even a little advantage was useful.

"Cinder Fall," she greeted with a absolutely _heart melting_ tone. "Pleasure to meet you..." she trailed off, inviting him to answer.

"Jaune," he replied.

It was best that she didn't know his last name. She would find out eventually, he knew that, but if there was even a sliver of a chance that he could keep her away from his family...

"Hello Jaune," she said with a smile that made Jaune want to sweat.

Was this her semblance? Or was she just _too_ damn good at being...

Well, hot.

Ironic.

"It's an honor," Jaune said, feigning flattery. "But, excuse the lack of pleasantries, why is it that we are meeting?"

Roman was right. It was hopeless to even attempt to beat a master at her own game—he needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.

"I was just curious," she said, sounding (and Jaune knew she wasn't) honest. "Roman never mentioned having a protege before, I figured the only person he could stand to spend any time with was dear Neopolitan."

He shrugged.

"I'm not entirely sure either, but I'm grateful to him."

She nodded and reached towards a bottle of wine sitting next to her.

Jaune didn't even notice it, he was too busy staring at her.

...he was in a bad situation.

"Please, Jaune, sit. And could you take the hood off? I'd like to see the face of the man who single handily saved the Dust I wanted."

He sat down, but didn't take the hood off.

"It wasn't just me, the White Fang did quite a bit also."

Cinder gave a laugh, a laugh so _alluring_ that Jaune could feel the temperature in the room increase just by hearing it.

"So humble," she praised. "That's not the most common trait in this little world that we are in."

"What can I say? I'm new to the game."

How was he not a quivering mess on the ground?

"Oh, so new and making such a big splash," she purred, leaning closer towards him.

Fuck.

"There were hardly splashes—plenty of explosions, but no splashes."

"Oh, really?" she said, sounding interested, as she took two fancy cups and sat practically _on top_ of him. "Care for a glass?"

"Sure," he said, knowing he couldn't refuse.

Cinder hummed as she poured two cups.

"I quite like this kind," she said as she handed him the cup. "And please, this wine is too high quality to drink with your hood up. I insist that you take it off to drink with me."

Insist was most likely meant that he would or else he'd be ashes.

Jaune winced slightly as she grabbed the rim of his hood and slowly pulled it off.

"Oh my," she said, breathless, as she took every feature in. "I'm not sure why you hide such a handsome face underneath a hood."

"I have a lot to hide," he admitted quietly.

"Like what?" she asked smoothly as she pressed up against his side. "What does such a young man want to hide?"

"Don't call me a young man like you are so much older," Jaune replied, trying flattery to deflect the question. "You don't look a day older than I do."

She laughed again, almost making Jaune pant.

"You flatter me," she spoke as she took a sip of wine. Jaune decided to do the same, hating the bitter taste as it flowed down his throat.

"This wine is quite good," he complimented, lying.

"I adore it," Cinder said as she took yet another sip.

It tasted uncannily like blood.

"So Jaune," she started, "how does a talented young man like you end with with Roman Torchwick?"

He knew he didn't have long to think of an answer. He had his cover story, but there was a lot less that he wanted to tell Cinder compared to Roman.

"Roman found me when I had nothing," he spoke after a moment. "I was a nobody and he gave me a new chance, I owe him everything."

"Bu surely Roman cannot teach you the sword and shield quite well," she argued—apparently she knew of his combat capabilities, which he wasn't surprised about in the slightest. "Both him and his... partner-" even she didn't know what Neo truly was "-both use quite different weapons."

"I had a little prior training," Jaune admitted. "But you'd be surprised on how similar our weapons are, the only difference is that I can block with my shield instead of parrying."

She nodded slowly.

"And where did you get prior training?"

Shit.

"Training is pushing it, I barely had any skill until Neo beat it into me."

Or rather, Raven beat it into him.

"Modest, I like it." She absently played with his cloak. "Quite the nice cloak that you have, where did you get it from?"

Jaune tensed.

"A friend," he replied stiffly. He knew she could feel his sudden discomfort.

She was too damn good not to.

"Really?" she said with a thoughtful hum. "I know of a... _friend_ that makes things like this. Do you know her, perhaps?"

"No. I believe we are speaking of different people," he replied way too quickly.

There was a silence—Jaune found it tense, but Cinder probably found it absolutely delightful.

"Shame, I thought I was right."

He looked outside and used the view as a distraction.

"Oh, the sun is getting low..." he spoke quickly. "I should really leave."

"Nonsense."

Jaune stood up.

"Unfortunately, as much as I would like to stay and chat longer, I have some business to deal with for Roman. I need to call the White Fang and discuss our partnership a little more—and it is always such a long process."

She smiled and nodded.

"Adam is quite dramatic, isn't he?"

Jaune nodded as he started to walk away.

"It was a pleasure, Cinder, we should do it again sometime," he said with a smile.

He was lying through his teeth.

"We should, perhaps next week?" she asked.

Jaune froze.

"M-maybe if my schedule is free. Roman is only giving me more and more responsibilities."

Jaune quickly left, leaving a smirking Cinder by herself.

She laughed to herself.

"Hm. Good, but not good enough," the seductress kept her eyes lingering on the door. "He will be more than useful... a valuable pawn."

* * *

"Kid, what happened?" Roman yelled as he entered the safe house. "I just got a call from Cinder!"

"What?" Jaune asked tiredly as he collapsed into a chair—he ran home.

"She said that I shouldn't work you too hard and that along with being my White Fang contact, you should be my contact with her!" he shook his head as he noticed Jaune tense. "Yeah, apparently I can focus on Dust and other ops instead of reporting things now..."

"Fuck!" Jaune groaned, he couldn't handle more Cinder. "I got played, Roman. She played me like a damn game! I walked in and didn't even realize that she got everything she wanted! She led me around like I was on a fucking leash!"

He cradled his face in his hands.

"She said you weren't as open as she would've liked, that's a good sign." Roman pulled out two cigars. "Kid, you may have lost, but you lost against one of the best—you didn't have a chance to begin with. You did good, despite what it seems, she didn't get her claws too deep into you—there are still options."

And with that, he threw one of the cigars to Jaune.

"You can at least celebrate being alive."

Jaune looked at the cigar thoughtfully, before putting it in his mouth

"I guess you're right..."

He never smoked before, but screw it.

Second hand smoking was probably pretty common around Cinder anyways.

* * *

Day one of being under Cinder's command was not good.

Firstly, he was still sore from the beating Raven had given him.

She didn't know he was meeting Cinder, it was a spur of the moment thing, and she wasn't happy about it. Raven ended up changing their schedule so that all the time they spent together was training.

And Jaune couldn't blame her, he needed all the help he could get.

Secondly, Roman had told him to keep an eye and ear out for any details involving Cinder's plan. He didn't like being kept in the dark, and Jaune's new position gave him the opportunity to change that.

So now he was spying on Cinder for Roman when he was spying on Roman for Raven.

And third, Cinder had already decided to use him for her own needs—at least a lot more than he expected.

"Can you repeat that?" he asked. "I heard it, but comprehending it is a bit tougher."

Cinder giggled, amused or not, and decided to humor him instead of burning him.

"It's simple," she started, "I heard of a rather powerful animal, that could possible be a Grimm. I want you to go and take it for me."

Jaune nodded slowly.

"So, you want me to go and capture a Grimm-"

"Possible Grimm."

"-sorry, possible Grimm. And somehow bring it back to you to tame? Even though a Grimm has never been tamed, let alone one powerful enough to catch your attention."

"Jaune," she said with a sultry tone. "Don't worry, it's not today. I am going to send two of my most talented fighters with you, but they will not be available until next week. So you can take that time to prepare."

"And deal with the White Fang..." he muttered quietly.

"I like a busy man."

Jaune nervously left.

Oh, and the White Fang was holding a pep rally tonight, with Roman revealing some VERY valuable stolen technology.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

 _"You sure, Ozpin?"_

Ozpin stared at his coffee cup, thinking deeply.

"That man in the cloak, I've noticed something about him..."

 _"Anything special?"_

"I need you to trust me. I'm making a risky call—but I want that man in the black cloak in front of me... I fear he might be the key to all of this."

 _"Shit, you thinking what I'm thinking?"_

"Yes."

 _"Double shit."_

"Make that triple shit, friend."

There was silence.

"Qrow?"

 _"I'll get him, don't worry."_


	6. Chapter 6

**I own nothing**

* * *

 _"Who are you, kid?"_

 _"I'm not a kid!"_

 _"Really? You look pretty small to me."_

 _"I just haven't eaten in a while."_

 _"Well... My name is Roman Torchwick, I can fix that little eating problem you have."_

* * *

Sometimes, Jaune questioned Raven's training methods.

She was pretty adamant that he had to go out into the world and get his own experience. That Professor Port's lessons taught that the best way to learn is to do stuff yourself, which made his class was invaluable.

Raven knew Port, apparently he wasn't that much older than she was.

Now _that_ was scary.

Jaune knew that the older people got, the more the years blended together... so Raven was probably exaggerating—but really?

There was no way.

Port, and Jaune's being nice, was ten years older than her, at least.

...or Raven found the Fountain of Youth.

"-I got a microphone, sir!"

Jaune snapped out his thoughts and stared at the Faunus staring at him proudly, a microphone in hand.

He was pretty sure that Raven didn't expect him to become an event planner when she sent him out in the world to 'gain experience'.

"I said 'microphones'! That means plural!" Jaune felt bad yelling at the Faunus, but damn... he never realized how tough it was to plan an event.

The Faunus scurried away.

"Roman," Jaune called into his radio, "where are you?"

 _"Makeup."_

This was the White Fang.

Yeah, the fucking White Fang was putting makeup on.

This was all Raven's fault.

"I need microphones!" Jaune yelled as Faunus worked all around him. "We need two more microphones and I want those lights shining in the next minute! I don't have night vision like the rest of you!"

Jaune heard a yell as a Faunus fell from the rafters above.

"That was the light guy, right?" Jaune looked at a Faunus by him. "Was that the light guy?"

"I... I think."

Jaune grabbed a coffee cup off a box and angrily threw it into the ground.

Stupid Raven making him spy on stupid Torchwick who is making him do this STUPID PEP RALLY!

"Somebody clean up this coffee!" Jaune yelled as he stormed off. "I need to learn how to light a stage!"

He looked to his side and saw a bunch of Faunus struggling to pull the special 'event' in.

"Roman," he called into his radio, "is the logo on the Paladin?"

There was silence for a few moments.

 _"I thought you were handling it."_

"What!?"

 _"Uh... sorry kid. But I can't do much of anything, don't want to ruin the makeup."_

Jaune let out a small scream.

"We are all terrorists here! Why do we need makeup!?"

* * *

 _"...humans, are the worst! Case and point."_

Damn, Roman could talk.

Jaune let out a breath at how smooth Roman was in front of a crowd. He knew that if he had to talk in front of a crowd he would be jelly, but that was why he was in the shadows shining the light on Roman.

The show was pretty damn good from up in the rafters, he could see the audience reactions to Roman's speech.

 _"...they're all to blame for your..."_

Jaune wanted to groan as he scanned the crowd, noticing a certain monkey Faunus talking to a certain cat Faunus.

Fucking Blake! Just let it go!

Stop trying to do... to do whatever the hell she was doing!

Jaune didn't know Sun very well, well except for he has gunchucks (Yang would be proud of that, he knew), but he was fairly certain that Blake was dragging the kid into issues bigger than all of them.

Literally! The mech was massive!

Jaune's attention was pulled from the back of Blake's head to Roman, who just unveiled the giant robot.

The logo of the White Fang was painted crudely on the side, but Jaune thought he did pretty good for the situation he was in.

 _"And thanks to my... uh... employer, we managed to snag a few from the shelves..."_

Jaune raised an eyebrow. He was pretty sure Roman was the one to steal the mechs, what did Cinder have to do wit-

Well... they were all heavy duty robots just created by Atlas—maybe some Cinder Fall was necessary to hold off the biggest military in the world.

Jaune cringed as Roman mentioned the operation in the south. He couldn't even warn Roman about the Blake and Sun, not without ruining the presentation.

...or without the White Fang killing the two students—he couldn't allow them to die.

He waved at Neo, who looked at him with her dual colored eyes.

The Arc pointed at the crowd and mouthed 'trouble' to her. Luckily, Neo was a master at reading lips, having to mouth words all the time, and understood.

Jaune sighed as Blake drew her gun and the lights all went out.

"Don't let her get away!" he could hear Roman yell.

Jaune let out a miserable groan.

"We didn't even get to pass out the free food! It's gonna go to waste!"

* * *

"Roman! What the fuck!"

 _"Kid, you've been too vulgar lately... calm down."_

Jaune angrily glared at his radio as he ran.

"You took the mech!"

 _"So? I wanted to take it for a spin, I've been itching to use it."_

"They're gonna break it!"

 _"It's the prototype, we got like twenty good ones at base."_

"We could have twenty good ones and one shitty one!"

 _"Kid, I'm doing this to keep the kids away from us. A single ass beating and then your friends won't try to fight us anymore, you want that!"  
_

"But when they beat the significantly weaker prototype they're gonna get overconfident!"

 _"Meh, who cares? This thing rides like a dream!"_

Jaune just growled as he ran faster.

He stopped in the middle of a road and started to run down it, taking a deep breath as cars approached him.

Jaune jumped in the air and flew through the wind shield of a car about to hit him. He let out a small moan of pain as he quickly righted himself and grabbed the steering wheel that the scared driver let go of.

"Get in the back seat or get out!" Jaune yelled as he started to push the driver.

The driver was cowering, so Jaune reached over him and opened the door—getting into the drivers seat as he shoved the driver out.

"That's what you get for not wearing your seat belt!" Jaune yelled as the man he shoved rolled across the ground.

They weren't going too fast—Jaune was sure the guy would be fine.

"Now... how the hell does driving work?"

* * *

 _"Jaune, help would be nice."_

Jaune quickly grabbed his radio, keeping his eyes on the road.

Roman was throwing cars around like they were toys... it was tough for a first time driver.

"What?"

 _"The blonde one! You know, with the big ti-"_

"It's Yang! Please stop!"

 _"Yeah! She's on a motor bike with a kid who's shooting me!"_

Jaune gave no acknowledgement and managed to maneuver his way onto the highway Roman was on. He floored the gas, feeling a pit in his stomach as he weaved through traffic.

How does he stop this thing?

Jaune was snapped from his thoughts as he saw a kid around his age shooting Roman from a motorbike.

Luckily, Yang was trying to stay behind Roman, it wasn't too difficult to catch up with them.

"Hey!" Jaune yelled through his window as he pulled up and drove next to Yang's motorbike. "Can you stop!?"

The blue haired boy looked at him and shrugged.

"Sorry! It' just-" he gestured to Roman "-there's a big robot!"

"That's my boss! He's an idiot!"

Yang took her eye off the road to look at him. Her eyes widened as she noticed his cloak form.

"Neptune! He's the guy from the docks!"

Jaune rammed them before they could take action.

Yang's bike 'stumbled' from the hit, but she managed to stabilize and pull ahead of Jaune's stolen vehicle

"Shoot him!" she yelled to Neptune.

Jaune quickly swerved to the side to avoid a giant laser to the face.

Unfortunately, he lost control and crashed right through the guard rail.

His car plummeted to the ground below.

* * *

Jaune awoke with a gasp.

He started to panted heavily as his stomach churned.

"What the... what?"

 **"You know, I can't do this too often,"** Salem spoke in his mind. **"I can do it maybe once every day or two."**

Jaune looked at his body and noticed shadows retreat into his cloak.

"Salem!" he cried in pure joy. "I love you!"

He looked over to his side and noticed the burning husk of his (stolen) car a few meters away—she had saved him from being inside of that.

"I double love you! Marry me!"

 **"You got guests,"** Salem said as Jaune shakily stood up.

Jaune looked up and noticed two people crash into a small pond next to him.

There was a girlish scream.

The blue haired boy, Neptune, flew out of the pond and ran at least thirty feet away from it.

"Holy shit!" he yelled. "Why did we land in the water!?"

Jaune noticed Sun surface from the water and swim to shore.

"Better than the ground!" the Faunus yelled as he looked up to the highways above them. "Well, we should catch up with them."

"How do we get out of here?" Jaune asked, startling them. "The only thing I can see is that pond. You'd think they would build something underneath all those highways... like stairs or something."

"You!" Sun shouted as he pointed a finger accusingly. "You're that one guy from the docks!"

Jaune rose a hand and waved.

He also checked if his hood was still one, which it was.

Magic cloak was awesome!

Jaune sighed as Neptune and Sun drew their weapons.

"Can we... not?" he asked. "I'll buy you... I dunno, dinner? Dinner if you stop! That sounds good, right?"

"You can't tempt us!" Neptune yelled, before shrugging slightly. "I mean, you can... food sounds nice..."

"Neptune! Think about how happy the girls will be if we capture this guy!"

Sun's words sparked a fire in Neptune.

"Sorry, cloak guy! But we got some very nice ladies to impress!"

Jaune sighed as he drew Crocea Mors.

"You know," Jaune started as he looked at Neptune, "for a guy whose name is Neptune and holds a trident... it's kinda ironic you're afraid of water."

"I am NOT afraid of water!" Neptune refuted. "I have no idea what you are talking abou-"

Neptune yelled in shock as Jaune rammed him with his shield.

The Arc ducked underneath a swing of Sun's staff and rolled to his side. He quickly raised his sword and blocked a swing from the Faunus.

Jaune raised his shield and blocked a shot from Neptune's trident—it could transformed into a gun!?

He noticed the endings of Sun's staff opening up to reveal ammo inside of it.

Jaune jumped away to avoid being blown up.

Sun and Neptune both rushed him, coming from both sides.

Jaune stood still and waited.

A simple step backwards made the two teammates ram into each other.

"Ow!"

"Dammit Sun!"

Jaune span around and smashed Sun with a roundhouse kick. Neptune rushed him and stabbed at him, Jaune blocked it with his shield and pushed the trident to the side. He grabbed the shaft of it and pulled it towards him, making Neptune stumble towards him.

But Jaune had no follow up. He headbutted the blue hair boy in a moment of quick thinking.

Raven's apprentice groaned slightly.

A headache was better than stabbing one of RWBY's friends...

Sun suddenly hit him in the back of the head, making his headache even worse.

Jaune felt his vision darken, but stayed up and turned around. He managed to block a swing of Sun's gunchucks with his shield, feeling his arms ache at the force of the hit.

Keeping his shield up, Jaune started to run forwards, ramming the Faunus and sending him stumbling back.

He had no time to rest, he grabbed Sun and whipped around. He threw the monkey boy into Neptune and ran towards the crumpled pile.

He kicked Sun's head like it was a soccer ball.

Payback was a bitch!

Jaune felt Neptune's hand wrap around his ankle and drag him down. The blue haired boy threw a punch into his face as he fell. They rolled around the ground, throwing hits every once in a while.

Jaune grunted as he felt his face sting—they were fighting like children!

Suddenly, an idea hit the Arc.

Jaune grabbed Neptune by the collar and punched him in the face. Neptune retaliated by punching him in the ribs a few times. Jaune grabbed the teen by the shoulder and threw him to the side.

Right by the pond.

Neptune's eyes widened as Jaune grabbed him by the hair and pushed him towards the water.

"Shitshitshitshitshit!"

"I'm gonna throw you in if you don't stop!" Jaune yelled threateningly.

He felt bad, it was a cheap trick and he knew it.

"Okay!" Neptune yelled desperately. "I'll stop! I surrender!"

Jaune looked over to the unconscious Sun and let out a relieved breath.

"Now," Jaune started as he backed away from Neptune, "you gonna refuse dinner now?"

* * *

Jaune rushed towards Yang and barreled into her before she could punch Roman and Neo.

"Kid!" Roman said happily as Jaune walked towards him.

"Really Roman? You broke the robot" Jaune asked angrily as he stared at the broken mech. He then looked at Yang. "Oh, and I like the eyes, they definitely run in the family."

She glared.

"It was the prototype!" Roman defended, not caring about his comment to Yang in the slightest.

Jaune growled.

"I got into a car accident trying to save your ass!"

"I appreciate it! Actually... no, I really don't."

"You!" Ruby yelled accusingly, pointing a finger at him.

"That monkey guy did the exact same thing," Jaune commented thoughtfully.

Team RWBY glared.

"What did you do to them!" Blake yelled as she glared.

"I beat them up and bought them dinner," Jaune said as seriously as he could. "And I know what you're thinking, and it's a yes, I actually beat them up... it wasn't just dinner."

"Who are you!" Yang yelled. "Take that hood off and show yourself!"

"Showing myself defeats the point of wearing a hood at all!"

"He's right," Ruby whispered to her sister.

She shot Ruby a betrayed look.

"Are we done stalling?" Jaune asked Neo, who shrugged.

"Stalling for what?" Weiss asked.

Jaune gave no reply as the three figures suddenly shattered like a broken mirror. There was a humming noise as a Bullhead started to hover past RWBY, Roman and co watched from inside of it as they flew away.

"Damn," Yang muttered as they left. "I couldn't ask him about mom..."

* * *

Jaune woke up still queasy.

The combination of both the car and the Bullhead was deadly.

He stumbled into the kitchen of the safe house he was in searching for anything to help.

"Hey kid!" Roman called as he watched something on his scroll. "It's noon, you slept for a while."

Jaune downed a cup of water and looked at him.

"What are you doing? You're usually doing... Roman stuff."

Roman shrugged.

"I do this a lot, but not around you. I'm here because we didn't have our celebratory ice cream party, an op isn't finished without one."

"Was that considered an op?"

"I don't think so, but Neo does... little sugar addict."

Jaune looked around and noticed Neo sitting on a couch across the room, she was absently watching the television as she ate from a bowl of ice cream.

"Ever heard of Pyrrha Nikos?" Roman asked as he stared at his Scroll. "A video just came out of her beating the crap out of an entire team at Beacon."

"She was my partner," Jaune said blandly. "You knew that."

Roman didn't respond.

Jaune walked over and glanced over Roman's shoulder.

Pyrrha was being... well Pyrrha.

Ass kicker extraordinaire.

Jaune didn't recognize who she was beating the pulp out of, but he recognize some people as the camera, which was a Scroll from the student section, panned towards a cheering group of kids.

He sighed as he noticed his friends.

"Are those who they replaced me with?" he asked as he noticed a girl and a boy. "I don't think the void I left requires two people..."

"You don't know them?" Roman asked. "They're close to Cinder."

Jaune's eyes widened.

"Yeah," Roman answered his unasked question. "She is infiltrating Beacon... and no, I have no idea why."

Safe to say, even the ice cream party didn't help Jaune's mood.

* * *

Jaune wondered down the streets of Vale, keeping his head low as he traveled.

Since the White Fang didn't need anything and Cinder's little mission wasn't until another six days, Jaune had a few off days.

And since he didn't have a Scroll, Roman didn't keep an eye on him—the criminal giving him a curfew of four days instead.

Jaune wondered over to a payphone and picked it up, dialing a number he had memorized.

It was answered instantly.

 _"What,"_ Raven answered.

"I'm good for four days."

 _"I have a mission_ _"_

"...alright."

There as a pause.

 _"Wait..."_

"Yeah?"

 _"I'll have a colleague pick you up, she'll continue your training."_

"Who is it?"

 _"Not over the phone."_

Jaune sighed at Raven's paranoia.

"Have I ever heard of her?"

 _"Yes."_

Jaune rose an eyebrow, but didn't bother pushing—he knew Raven never used names over the phone.

"Will I get a mask?"

The Grimm mask would look so cool with his cloak!

 _"No."_

Damn...

Jaune sighed.

"I have one more thing," he asked.

 _"What."_

"This is gonna be offensive..."

 _"Do you think I care about offensive?"_

Jaune swallowed a lump in his throat.

"How... how old are you?"

There was silence.

"I mean... you said you and Port weren't that far apart and I jus- pleasedon'tkillmeI'msorry!"

There was more silence.

 _"Stop wasting my time."_

She hung up.

"Well _excuse me_ Miss 'do you think I care about offensive'! Please hang up after how good of a conversation you gave me with your one word answers!"

There was a giggle behind him.

Jaune turned around and saw a person in a thick white cloak, female if the voice meant anything, and a height much shorter than Raven's—she was maybe Weiss' size. Her face was hidden by a hood.

"Who are you?" Jaune asked, forgetting all his father's advice on talking to ladies.

"Your contact," she said cheerily.

Jaune's eyes widened.

"That... that was fast."

She giggled again, handing him something as she did.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Your first training exercise," she explained, confusing him.

It was only a... purse...

Oh shit.

She lifted her head, revealing a rather familiar face.

"HELP! THIEF!"


	7. Chapter 7

**I own nothing**

* * *

 _"Are you sure he's the one?"_

 _"I'm sure."_

 _"Raven, we can't make mistakes."_

 _"He is the one."_

 _"Okay, I trust you. Can I meet him?"_

 _"Soon."_

* * *

"Stop you dirty thief!"

Like that would make him stop.

If anything, it only made Jaune run faster.

He vaulted over a parked car and threw a small food stand to the ground, making a small barricade of food that he knew the crowd of people chasing him would hesitate to go through.

Jaune continued as fast as he could, keeping his head low as bullets flew over him.

He rounded a corner and quickly entered an alleyway before they could see them.

He hid behind a dumpster and caught his breath.

It was _her_. A literal _ghost_ managed to get the police on him! What was happening?

It shouldn't be possible, Jaune heard from the most reliable source that she shouldn't be around.

Jaune knew Raven had allies, but he never gave any thought on _who_ they might be—and now that he knew at least one of them, his estimation of their strength was WAY off.

They were much more powerful than he thought.

"Hey, young man, what are you doing?"

Jaune froze as he looked up and noticed a garbage man staring at him quizzically.

"I was uh... I was... taking a jog! Yeah! I was taking a job to stay in shape and I couldn't meet my goal!"

Yup. That sort of quick thinking was why he was spying on some of Vale's most notorious criminals.

"Really kid?" the garbage man asked. "You seem pretty in shape to me."

"Not compared to the other kids," Jaune said with a shrug. "They always tease me on it."

It was easier to lie if he pretended that he was talking about his skill, not his body shape.

The public serviceman just shook his head, muttering about the 'damn impossible standards' that the current generation had.

Jaune stood up and tried to shuffle away from the conversation.

He only had his hoodie on, the black cloak was trademark of his criminal persona, and his hood had flown off in all his running. His face was perfectly visible for the garbage man to see.

It was only a matter of time unti-

"Hey, you look familiar..."

Until that.

Crap.

"Uh... do I?" Jaune tried to back up, but the man was stepping closer and closer. "I was... on a commercial when I was a baby! Yeah!"

"No," the man said somewhat sharply as he stared at Jaune with narrow eyes. "You look like Jaune Arc."

"Who? I'm from Atlas." Jaune hoped his lie would work.

"You know, that one fiend who snuck his way into Beacon on fake transcripts and tried to kill another team because they found out about his secret."

Was that really the story that the media told? In reality, it was nowhere near the truth, but Jaune could see the conclusion being drawn from the facts being released.

It's not like he was given a chance to testify.

"Well," Jaune started as he took a step towards the man, "you got me."

And with that Jaune shoved the garbage man out of the way and dashed away.

"Hey! HE'S OVER HERE! JAUNE ARC IS OVER HERE!"

Jaune had only one word to describe both his situation and his current thoughts...

"Shit!"

* * *

"Hey there!"

Jaune let out a yelp as he ran into _her_ and tumbled to the ground.

She was so much shorter than him! How did that work!?

"You!" Jaune said with narrow eyes as he laid on the ground. "You did this!"

"It's training!" she defended.

"I got recognized! Raven's gonna kill me!"

She giggled.

"Not if the crowd kills you first!" The... the pure happiness in her tone threw Jaune off.

Was she enjoying this that much? Or was it just her personality?

Jaune stood up and looked around, somehow they were in an empty street. All the people that usually flooded the streets of Vale were cautioned to stay inside by the police—apparently he was _soooo_ dangerous.

Speaking of police, Jaune noticed a police Bullhead patrolling up above.

"I need to get out of here," Jaune told his temporary mentor. "If you still want to train me then it has to be out of country... and not in a bat shit crazy way like this."

"It's not even over yet!" she chirped. "You haven't run into the special guest yet!"

"Special guest?" Jaune asked in dread.

"I did some research when you were running! It was tough, but I actually found somebody that supported you!" she looked at him with a tilted head. "That's not a criminal or raging introvert."

Jaune raised an eyebrow.

Neo was out, Roman was out, Cinder(who kinda supported him) out, Adam...? No.

Raging introvert: Raven.

Who was it?

"I hate to ask... but who is it?"

She pulled out a scroll and looked at it.

"I think her name was... umm..." she made a expression that Jaune instantly placed to an old friend. "She's famous, I know that. It was really tough to get her personal phone number, but I did, and it sounded like she appreciated the tip."

A famous female...

Weiss?

No, she hated him.

Pyrr-

Oh fuck.

"Was her name Pyrrha Nikos?" Jaune asked, fearing for his existence.

"There you go!"

Jaune felt his legs want to give out.

He was _screwed_.

"When did you call her!?" he asked frantically. Maybe he could escape, he was done if she caught up with him.

"Like ten minutes ago."

Jaune felt his heart drop.

"I hate you... I thought you would be better than Raven. The stories were clearly all lies... you're the real sadist."

She giggled again.

"Sucks for you!"

She then handed him a water bottle.

"You need to stay hydrated."

Jaune had no way to verbally express himself. So opted to try something new and gave her the middle finger as he started to run away.

By the time he got to the end of the street he ducked, barely managing to dodge a spear.

He whipped around and gasped.

"SHIT!"

That glare did _not_ look inviting. In fact, it looked like it promised _a lot_ of pain and _a lot_ of suffering if he resisted.

And slightly less if he came in willingly.

* * *

The difference between dodging Neo's attacks in training and Pyrrha's attacks in a real life situation was that Neo was trying to kill him... Pyrrha was not.

"Come back here!"

And Jaune really wanted to thank Neo for that. He would have never managed to jump from rooftop to rooftop dodging bullets and metal pipes if she wasn't an absolute psychopath.

"Leave me alone!" he yelled as ducked under Akoúo̱, Pyrrha's shield.

How the hell did she get so much curve on a shield? Or even recover it without having to stop?

Jaune yelped as a bullet hit right in front of his foot, making him fall to the ground.

The Arc rolled as soon as he landed to dodge a spear in the torso. He flipped onto his hands and into a flip to dodge at least a five hit combo thrown in literally less than five _damn_ seconds.

He threw a punch almost lazily at her right side that she easily brought her arm up to block.

But Jaune was partners enough to know her few weaknesses. In a burst of speed that surprised Pyrrha, he changed the direction of his punch and brought it into her elbow.

The only spot she wasn't well defended was her right arm, she didn't have an armor on it.

Her arm curled up by reflex, and Jaune used the moment to rush her now unprotected left side.

But all he did was kick her in the lower leg, making her stumble, and run past her.

That was the only chance he had. Pyrrha was still mistaking him for the old Jaune—the one who couldn't fight. He no longer could surprise her with his new training, she wouldn't underestimate him again.

The only advantage he had, and he had to blow it to kick her in the shin.

The few seconds she took to regain her balance and comprehend that he just annihilated her guard was all Jaune needed. Channeling all the Aura to his legs as possible, he tried to recreate Ruby's Semblance to the best of his ability.

It was nowhere as good as Ruby's, obviously, but it was the best he could do as he sped away from his former partner.

His legs were gonna be in absolute _agony_ tomorrow.

"Jaune wait!"

Jaune saw the outer walls of Vale and gritted his teeth in determination.

He lunged into the air, feeling his legs almost explode with the amount of energy he was channeling into them.

Luckily, he cleared the walls.

Unluckily, he was slammed in the back with a bullet as he did.

And, to rub salt in his literal wounds, pretty much all his Aura was in his legs—the bullet traveled straight into his back.

* * *

The sound of his body hitting the ground made a pretty meaty sound.

Jaune groaned as he laid outside the 'safety' of Vale.

Was it really that safe for him? Crazy mentors, crazy criminals, and crazy redheads all out to make his life a living hell wasn't exactly 'safe' in his books.

"Jaune!" he could hear Pyrrha cry from the other side of the wall.

Now _that_ was motivation to get up. He'd rather run with his wound than explain to Pyrrha that he was a criminal but _not_ a criminal because he was doing the illegal acts to spy for Yang's mom.

Plus, Jaune knew he didn't have the spine to look her in the eyes.

"You alright?" the sunny voice of his current mentor rung from next to him.

Of course she'd appear out of nowhere.

"No," he replied tightly.

"I feel a bit bad about that," she explained. "So I'm gonna give you five minutes—and a rather convenient cop free route—to escape from all the heat you have. Oh, and take this."

She handed him a Scroll.

Jaune panted as he took and looked at it.

"This is a completely clean Scroll," she explained. "This baby can't be tracked or recorded, it's also anonymous. You have Raven's current number memorized, right?"

"The one from this week, yes."

"Good! Mine is already on there, so you can contact me tonight and get your first mission!"

"Mission?" Jaune questioned warily.

"Yup! You're gonna assassinate a rather high ranking government official!"

Jaune stared.

And stared.

And _stared_.

Then he started to jog away, already knowing he spent a minute of his five staring at her in disbelief.

He missed Raven.

* * *

Jaune groaned as tried to deal with his biggest weakness.

An airship.

Raven had drilled into him that his motion sickness was nothing but a mental issue—that he just needed to overcome it in his mind.

He couldn't.

The bullet wound in his back, plus all the Aura he wasted to escape from the city and travel all the way to the south eastern part of Vale, was going to make the trip hell.

It wasn't even a long ride to Mistral—a night at most with the ticket he had been given.

But damn... that night was going to be rough.

Luckily, his current teacher booked him a private room that would apparently save him the embarrassment of puking every half an hour.

"Here you go, sir," an attendant said as he helped Jaune hobble to his room. They were treating him like royalty—which they should with how much the ticket cost.

"T-thank you," Jaune managed to sit out as he fumbled around in his pocket for his key. "Is there... is there any medicine that can help me with this?"

The attendant nodded. "We will have it right away."

Jaune shakily unlocked his door as the attendant walked away and slowly started to walk inside of his room.

Only to be shoved in the back.

Jaune silently fell to the ground and barely managed to swallow his vomit back down his throat.

He tried to turn around and face his foe, but he was _so weak..._

"Still the same old Jaune," the voice of Pyrrha said _way_ to cheerily for his own liking. "No matter how much training you got, you still can't ride an airship."

She picked Jaune up by his collar and pinned him against a wall.

"Now," she growled. "You have a lot of explaining to-"

"Oh excuse me!" the voice of the attendant said suddenly, Jaune noticed him place a bottle of medicine on a desk before scurrying away. "Enjoy your private time!" he threw out as he closed the door.

That was fast—they had phenomenal service apparently.

Pyrrha was blushing immensely, looking shellshocked,.

And Jaune?

Jaune kept a blank face for at least two seconds, before throwing up all over the 'Invincible Girl'.

* * *

"Jaune why!?" Pyrrha complained from the bathroom of his room. "This was the only clothes I got!"

Pyrrha was never a complainer, but Jaune thought she was allowed to freak out a little after being vomited on.

"It's your fault," Jaune said lazily as he laid on the bed and sipped medicine. "Wearing a strapless top was your choice, not that I don't mind," he muttered the last part quietly.

Damn, Roman was rubbing off on him.

Pyrrha walked back into the bedroom of his cabin—which consisted of a bathroom, a bedroom, and a kitchen-living room like area—wearing Jaune's hoodie, which he had to take off for her.

It was a bit strange, her armored skirt bottom and his regular casual blue hoodie on the top, but he thought she rocked it pretty well.

"I like the look," he said honestly. "You're like a superhero, wearing your costume over a civilian disguise."

She shrugged and looked at him.

"I like the shirt," she said, trying to be polite, "the... candle looks very nice."

Roman had bought him a shirt with a candle on it, apparently he found the pun hilarious.

"Thanks," Jaune said with equal tact. "The... _Torchwick_ design is rather cool—or hot, if you want to compliment and pun at the same time."

Pyrrha just stared at him as he lounged around.

"Jaune?" she asked, not able to channel the anger she wanted.

"Hmm?"

"What are we doing?" She sounded a lot more lost than she should have.

"I am going on a job for my mentor," Jaune answered. "You, I'm not very sure."

She glared at him.

"Well I'm not leaving without you."

Jaune snorted.

"Well Vale will come get you, with handcuffs if necessary. You're bunking with a known criminal, Pyr, turn on the TV and you can probably see a story about my little adventure today."

"You're not a criminal!"

Jaune could only sigh at her loyalty—he hasn't been her leader for months.

"Pyrrha," he started seriously. "I don't think I'm a criminal either, but they don't care what _I_ think—I'm the guilty one. They care what the _public_ thinks. I still don't understand the game very well, but if making me a criminal prevents uproar, then I'm a criminal."

"But they don't know what happened!" she protested. "Nobody really knows what happened! Well... except you!"

Jaune smiled at her innocence—that was one thing he could one up her in.

"Pyr, you didn't expect the big confrontation between the two of us to be like this, right? It's not serious, or emotional, or even the way you've been thinking about for entire nights after I left. The reason why I don't care is because I accept what happened to me."

"Why?" she asked quietly.

"Because even I'm not sure what happened. All I know is that I think I'm innocent, but I don't _know_. What I do _know_ is the state that Cardin and his team was in because of me." His tone was resigned, like he had given up hope.

Which, deep down inside, he hadn't. But the odds were against him a billion to one.

"You're just gonna give up?" Pyrrha questioned angrily. "The Jaune Arc I know never gives up!"

Jaune chuckled dryly.

"Pyrrha, the Jaune Arc you knew wouldn't kill an entire team for no reason other than he wanted to—but look what I tried to do."

"It couldn't be y-"

"Sadly, it was. I don't remember what happened, I don't remember why it happened."

Pyrrha stared at the floor sadly.

"This was anticlimactic, wasn't it" Jaune asked. "I'm gonna say it again, I know you expected this conversation to be in the end of a big emotional argument or fight... but it wasn't. The guy you were looking for doesn't give a shit and you're covered in puke... it sucks."

Pyrrha looked at him and offered a hopeful smile.

"At least I managed to have this conversation at all—you just vanished.

Jaune lolled his head back and stared at the ceiling.

"So... school," he started lamely. "You're not in it... because?"

"We had a day off," she explained.

"A day?"

He knew she was embarrassed even though he couldn't see her face.

"I can miss a day," she said quietly.

"A day?" he repeated.

"Two days..."

"Are you going to walk your way back? Because I'm not sure if being a four time tournament winner is going to pay for this room."

She stared at him quizzically.

"You have a return ticket, don't you?"

Oh _hell_ no.

"Pyrrha, nope," he said bluntly. "You are _not_ coming with me on this mission, it doesn't involve you."

"Well _you_ involve me!" she argued with a pointed look.

"Why? I'm not your leader, I'm not your equal, I'm a criminal!"

"You're my partner!"

"I'm not!"

Jaune felt the metal bed frame his bed was on shudder.

"Yes. You are."

Her tone was a quiet one that promised death if he tried to fight back.

But he had to fight back.

"Pyr, this is not something you want to do. It's something you won't like and I can't afford to have this mission messed up."

She placed a hand on her hips and stared at him with an attitude.

An attitude that she definitely didn't have a few months ago.

"Well what is this mission?" she asked expectantly.

"You've been hanging out with Yang, haven't you? Actually... I see a bit of Weiss also, the bossy tone is unmistakable."

His attempt to deflect the question failed.

"Jaune. Tell me."

Jaune let out a deep sigh.

"Look, I still haven't been briefed on it fully. My mentor won't tell me if you're with me, and she'll get impatient and deal with you eventually if you hold me too long. Just leave, for your own go-"

"I don't mind!" a sunny voice called from _under_ the _fucking bed_.

Jaune shot off the bed and ungracefully fell to the ground, he started to heave as he laid on the cold floor.

From his position he could see the figure under the bed.

"What the hell are you doing here!?"

She smiled as she rolled out from under the bed and gave a small wave, before facing Pyrrha and hopping up onto her feet.

"Well hello there Pyrrha! Nice to meet you!"

Pyrrha, who already had her weapons drawn, looked at his teacher warily.

"Who are you?" she asked lowly.

His mentor looked at him confused.

"Jaune, why is she so hostile?"

"Because you were under my bed," he said dryly.

"Oooooh!" she let out with a small nod. "I see now. Well Hi again, Pyrrha, I'm-"

"I know who you are," Pyrrha cut her off quietly. "At least, I think I do. You're the one who called me, aren't you?"

"Yup!"

Jaune crawled over to the bathroom and waited for the inevitable vomit.

There was some small talk going on between the two girls—whatever it was Jaune could hardly care. He just sat on the floor of a bathroom, trying to think about what he did to piss off a supernatural being. It was the only explanation for his current situation.

"Hey Jaune!" his teacher said as she entered the bathroom, closing the door as she did. "We need to talk!"

Jaune nodded. They really needed to talk, without Pyrrha.

"What is going on?" he asked quietly, so Pyrrha couldn't hear him from the next room. "Why do you want me to kill a guy?"

"He's a rather bold politician who has ties in the military—it seems inevitable that he is going to gain a position of power," she explained in a hushed tone. "While he seems like a good leader on the outside, which he actually is, some of his... more _inside_ viewpoints draw issues with our organization."

"Like?"

She smirked. "Employees only."

"I'm an employee."

"You're an intern. This will bring you one step closer to the mask."

Now _that_ was a good selling point—those masks were amazing.

"So I need to kill a good guy for our own interests?"

And _that_ wasn't a selling a point—does 'return point' count as an opposite for 'selling point'?

Because if so, it was a return point.

Could he do that? Was he willing to kill someone who deserved to live for... for what? Something he didn't even know about?

She hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly.

"He has good intentions for Mistral, but what he's seeking in secret can destroy the world if he uncovers it. That is the goal of our group, to protect the world from the shadows, even if it means becoming those shadows."

"...assassination," Jaune muttered quietly. "To protect the world I need to... kill a politician?"

"Yes."

For once, she actually sounded serious.

"I... I get it. I'll do it," he spoke after a few minutes of silence. "I owe Raven everything—I'll do whatever it takes to pay it back. Now, what do I do? Please don't tell me it's gonna be at a ball or something, please no cliches."

She offered him a weak smile.

"You're kidding me, right?"

The smile didn't falter.

All Jaune could do was sigh.

"There's a plus," she added. "You got Pyrrha now."

Jaune raised an eyebrow, inviting her to go on.

"She's a rather famous face all over the world, especially in her home country of Mistral. Her influence can get you close to him."

"I can't make her do that!"

"Look, Jaune, you don't have to make her do anything. She doesn't have to know—this can all just be a little date between the two of you or something."

"At a ball!?"

She shook her head.

"Not exactly. Kalos—that's his name by the way—is going to a ball, but his rather popular teenage daughter is holding a big party at his house while he's busy. That's the best chance you'll get, they'll never know you were there."

Jaune sat in silence, feeling his stomach churn.

Pyrrha would never know. He could just use her as a way to get in the party and slip away when everyone hounds her (it would happen, it happened enough in Vale). A small trap in his bathroom or a simple poison on his pillow could kill him days after Jaune was gone.

It was literally the perfect chance. Any adult assassin would be caught immediately among the teenagers, he was the perfect age. And there would be no searching of bags, since everyone already knew people were going to sneak drugs or alcohol in, and probably most of them would be too wasted to remember what happened.

Jaune didn't like it, but he found the situation _too_ good to let up.

"Fine. It's on... tell Raven I owe her one less favor."

She smirked and gave him a mock salute.

* * *

Jaune exited the bathroom and noticed Pyrrha laying on his bed, watching the television.

"You're right," she noted as he approached. "They are talking about you."

Jaune groaned as he collapsed onto the bed next to her.

"Scoot," he said, his voice muffled by the pillows. "I worked hard for this bed, and I'm gonna use every inch of it."

With a single arm she shoved him onto the floor and continued to watch.

There was silence.

"Pyrrha!" he moaned after a moment. "When did you become so... so mean! Or rather, like Ren!"

She didn't respond.

"Exactly like Ren!"

It took a few seconds, but he could here her muffling her laughter. He chuckled a little as well—it was nice to know that he hadn't changed completely.

Jaune got back onto the bed and tried to shove her off, but she held strong with no visible signs of protest.

He frowned—that did not help his self esteem in the slightest.

"Hey Pyr," he said, activating his plan.

"What?"

"Want to... I don't know, go on a date like venture in Vale?"

She snapped her head and looked at him in shock.

He used her reaction to shove her onto the floor.

"Haha! Triumph!" he yelled as he wrapped blankets around him like a burrito.

She stood up and stared at him blandly.

"Did you just do that to get me off the bed?" she asked with a dangerous tone.

"Nope!" he said from inside his little cocoon. "I'll take you out, my mission isn't as difficult as I thought!"

He could feel her smile, which made him frown—not that she could see it.

That was the first of many things he was going to lie to her about.

* * *

 **Authors note: This chapter is not as polished as I would have preferred. It will be properly revised soon.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I own nothing**

* * *

 _"Did it unlock his Semblance?"_

 _"No, not a single sign."_

 _"That's not good. It's probably because he doesn't value himself enough."_

 _"What do we do then?"_

 _"I'm not sure... he won't last without it."_

* * *

Jaune felt bad.

Pyrrha trusted him, she actually thought he was trying to reconnect to his old life.

Which, in a way, he was—but in reality, he was nothing more than a liar using her fame to kill a politician that could bring great things to Mistral.

Still, he could pretend that they were actually friends... which, in a sad way, he couldn't help but feel more like an enemy than a true friend.

It was tough to enjoy the first human contact with a person who wasn't absolutely crazy—and a bit depressing to know that _he_ was the bat shit crazy one to plague his current adventure.

His temporary mentor was nowhere to be seen (knowing her, she was probably right behind him) and left him to his own devices. Apparently he was going to do this on his own, because members of their shadowy group worked alone.

They weren't going to hold his hand if he really wanted to become a full fledged employee.

Jaune stared at himself all dressed up in the mirror.

Being an intern sucked.

He was given a tip that the Kalos' daughter was going out to dinner with a few of her friends. That was where Jaune would take Pyrrha to try and stage a meeting.

If things went the way he wanted it to, the group of teens would be starstruck by Pyrrha and try to invite her to their party.

He didn't know who was funding the organization that Raven was training him to be in—they had _a lot_ of money if they could book him seats in one of the most prestigious restaurants in Mistral (which, compared to Atlas or Vale, wasn't good. But it still costed more money than he could fathom).

Did politicians make that much money? Jaune wasn't an expert, but he was pretty sure that clean politicians didn't make so much.

Kalos' daughter was treating an entire group of her friends to dinner!

Jaune snapped out of his thoughts as Pyrrha returned to their hotel room.

He had sent her out to get clothes—or at least that's what he told her—in reality, he did it so the public would know that Pyrrha Nikos was in town.

It was a calculated risk. Wherever Pyrrha went, camera's followed, but if he could get the teenage body excited about her...

Well... that would make getting an invitation so much easier.

It was like Roman always said... you gotta risk it for the biscuit.

"Hey Pyr," he said with a fake happy tone. "You done?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, I was practically chased by people though... it was relentless."

Jaune nodded slightly.

"That's an issue," he started, "It probably won't be good if you're seen with me—I am a criminal after all."

"Then what do you suggest?" she asked with a delicate eyebrow raised.

"We take a sneaky route to dinner," he said like it was obvious.

"You sure? That's complicated..."

Apparently she wanted to savor their time together. Jaune felt horrible that he was manipulating her so _easily_ , that playing on the emotions of the 'Invincible Girl' was so simple.

"I didn't run away the minute we got off the airship because... because I guess I owe you some sort of redemption—for me, not you. Maybe we can finally move on after this..."

He noticed her frown, but opted to act busy instead of addressing it.

If he could just get her wanting to spend more time with him, then it would be easy to convince her to go to the party.

* * *

Jaune didn't even know the name of the restaurant they were in.

He left Raven to plan the entire dinner, deciding to call her and ask for her help instead of his sadistic other mentor.

And no, he didn't mean Neo or Roman.

He meant the zombie, the one who should be dead.

Fucking S-

Pyrrha kicked his leg from under the table.

"—and the special soup is rather savory, is that alright, Mr. Car?"

Jaune wanted to snicker at his pathetic excuse of a last name, but the look Pyrrha was giving him made him stay professional.

"That would be nice," he said, not knowing in the slightest what he was ordering.

"And to drink? Would you be interested in wine?"

"Pyr, you can decide," he stated in a manner befitting of a gentleman. Or course, he could hardly care about wine—instead he opted to look around the room for the target while Pyrrha decided.

He almost smirked as he saw a group of teenagers clearly out of their element being seated. They were the rich type, he could tell, they knew a lot about the etiquette of a fine restaurant—but Jaune could notice that they weren't welcoming of it.

'Always observe the target,' Raven would drill into his head. 'You have to know the target like you're lovers,' was Roman's less tactful way of stating the same point.

But Jaune made sure he didn't take Roman's words too seriously.

"So Jaune," Pyrrha started as she sipped graceful on her wine. "What exactly are you doing here?"

"I'm on a mission for my... superior," Jaune said, not knowing if the term 'boss' or 'mentor' was better.

"Ah... who is she? She looks quite familiar." Pyrrha was trying to be subtle about his mentor's looks, she obviously saw the resemblance.

He had no idea why his current teacher didn't wear a mask—Raven made it somewhat clear that they get one when they join. But the other member never had a mask on, and her face was _definitely_ something she had to hide.

Not that she was ugly, or anything... she was actually quite goo-

Jaune had to stop himself from rambling mentally.

"Yeah," he said absently. "She does look familiar. Did she say anything to you when I was... well you know." He cringed at the thought of all the vomiting he did on the airship.

"I asked why she called me... she just said that it was for your training. Yet, somehow, I doubt that."

Jaune nodded.

It was just... so shady. She goes through so much trouble to call Pyrrha so he can run from her, and then basically invites her to come with him on an assassination of all things!

He was used to ulterior motives—it was sort of the staple of Jaune's new lifestyle.

Hell, even he had his own motives.

"Jaune," Pyrrha cut him out of his thoughts yet again. "You were staring at me."

"Well... you're just so beautiful," Jaune said charismatically, pulling all of Roman's teachings out. "I doubt I'd be the only one to stare."

He appreciated how she blushed, it helped the confidence.

Confidence that he would use to get into a party.

He couldn't resist the smirk as he noticed the target and her friends whisper to each other as they stared at Pyrrha.

It was time.

"Hey Pyr, you got some fans watching."

Pyrrha frowned slightly and let out a small sigh.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "Don't appreciate the supporters?"

"I mean, I do," she replied. "It... they are just so much sometimes. I can't even get food with my friend without people staring at me. They're also gonna come up to speak with us, not that I don't appreciate people looking up to me, it's just that so many aren't sincere."

So, she still considered him a friend.

If she found out his motives, she wouldn't for long.

"Well, you called it," Jaune said as he noticed the group approach. "This much happen a lot, right?"

She nodded, putting on a smile.

"Um... hello," a pleasant voice spoke to them. Jaune had no idea what Kalos' daughter looked like, but he just looked for the one that had the family resemblance.

"Hi," Pyrrha said in a friendly manner, keeping her image up way better than Weiss ever did.

"Are you Pyrrha Nikos?" A girl, who Jaune suspected was the target, asked.

Pyrrha nodded. "Yes, I am."

The entire group, which was around five, all lit up in excitement.

"It is so nice to meet you!" the same girl said happily. "You are so amazing!"

Jaune wanted to snort. Like Pyrrha didn't here that way too much already.

"Yes..." Pyrrha responded a bit awkwardly.

"Hey there," Jaune said with a (hopefully) charming smile.

"Hi," she said somewhat suspiciously, "and you are...?"

Was she... protective of Pyrrha? Jaune wanted to burst out laughing as he realized _she_ was jealous of _him_!

If only she knew that _he_ should be jealous of _her_! Living a pampered life like a fairy tale...

A tale that Jaune would soon end.

"I'm... James, James Car. And yes, my last name is stupid."

"Hey!" she held her arms out defensively. "I didn't say it, you did!"

He chuckled. "Yeah, I did."

"Neara Prosopo," she said with her hand outreached.

Jaune hated to do it, but he grabbed her hand and kissed it.

He couldn't help but notice Pyrrha's raised brow and Neara's blush.

"So Neara," he started. "What's up?"

"We uh... we just wanted to meet Pyrrha Nikos."

He nodded.

"She's quite amazing, isn't she?"

"Yes!" she responded _way_ too quickly.

"Hey Neara," a guy next to her said quietly, "want to invite them?"

Yes! Jaune wanted to jump in the air in scream in happiness.

He was finally being a spy! When Raven sent him to infiltrate Torchwick, he didn't expect ice cream and getting the shit beat out of him. He now felt like he was in one of those old movies, pretending to be someone else, tricking them to invite him to a party...

If only he had gadgets, then he's be no different than 007.

Neara nodded enthusiastically.

"Hey! Um... do you... do you want to go to a party we're having tomorrow? It's at my place... my parents aren't home... is that um, okay?"

Pyrrha opened her mouth and was about to reject them politely, but Jaune spoke before she did.

"Sure! What time?"

Neara smiled brightly and started to ramble incoherently.

Jaune gave Pyrrha a wide smile as she stared at him with an even expression.

* * *

"What was that for!?"

Jaune smirked. Angry Pyrrha was fun, he never got her angry back at Beacon—and now it was a daily thing.

"What was what?" he asked, playing dumb.

Pyrrha kicked her shoes off and sat down on the bed of their hotel room heavily, glaring at him the entire time.

"Jaune, I need to return to Vale! I can't be going to parties with random people! They are going to hound me the entire time!"

"So?"

Pyrrha shot him a betrayed look, which actually made him feel bad.

"You know I hate being in the spotlight, I just want to be me. If we go I'm gonna have to be the 'Invincible Girl' the entire time!"

Jaune internally groaned... he felt _really_ bad.

Maybe he should come clean.

Semi clean.

"Pyrrha, I have to admit something..." he took a deep breath as she stared expectantly. "It involves my mission."

"What is it?"

"I've been using you!" he blurted out.

She stared, not quite following.

"There is going to be an assassin at the party," Jaune explained. "I was sent there by my mentor, but I didn't have a way to get in without drawing suspicion... until you suddenly came."

He was stretching it, but every good truth had a lie.

...or did he have that backwards?

"So you used me to get into the party to stop an assassination?" she repeated.

Well... if that's what she thought, he wasn't going to correct her.

"Are you angry?" he asked, not letting her know that _he_ was the assassin.

"Kinda," she said honestly. "I'm livid at you for using me, but I can't help but feel vindicated to help them—I could never go back to Vale knowing that I could have stopped a person from dying."

Jaune walked over and gave her a hug.

"Thanks Pyr."

"Who is it?" she asked in his embrace. "The person being targeted?"

"Kalos Prosopo," he answered.

He could feel her tense.

"Now I can't leave, he's doing good things for Mistral."

"So... we're on, partner?"

She smiled.

"Yeah... partner."

Little did she know, she was going to aid him in executing an assassination—not stopping one.

Jaune just had to figure out how he was going to do it.

* * *

Shit.

There was an issue.

Kalos was smart—a man like him always made a few enemies.

And Kalos was convinced he had enemies in the shadows. He didn't have any physical security in his house, but a massive security system involving technology Jaune could hardly understand.

Apparently Kalos did know his daughter was throwing a party, and simply let it happened.

That was the thought process of a man who was _confident_ in his security. Everyone would be on his cameras the entire time, and no doubt the more sensitive areas of the house hat motion sensors and doors that required intricate processes to open.

He could't just place a bomb in his sink, he needed to make sure Kalos was the one to die—his family couldn't be hurt.

But it would be... well if his family was hurt than it send a good messa-

Jaune stopped mid stride, his wide eyes staring at Kalos' massive house in shock.

Why did he just think that? Did he just think that?

And why did that house look so easy to burn?

 **"Jaune,"** Salem purred in a Cinder like manner in his head, the first time in days, **"Why are you distressed?"**

How could he not be? He was just thinking of... of...

Of just burning the house and have Kalos deal with the repercussions... it was just as good as killing him...

He had to swallow the lump in his throat—what was happening?

 **"I've heard that in the moment of adversary, a man's true thoughts finally come out..."**

No. It couldn't be true.

Why was this happening?

Why did he agree to do this? He could just talk to Kalos instead... make him understand?

Why was he so eager to kill him?

And why did Raven's approval not matter in the slightest? She was the one to assign him the mission, right?

Was she evil?

...was he evil?

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, having stopped her approach to Kalos' house in favor of holding his arm with a concerned look.

"I... I'm just nervous," he lied without his own approval. "I've never been to a party before."

No! He didn't want to say that! He wanted to go home!

Kalos didn't have to d-

"Let's go," he said, cutting his own thoughts off. "We need to deal with this assassination."

Pyrrha nodded and they started to walk towards the mansion. The music could be heard from the second they pulled up, a plethora of lights shined from the windows, illuminating their bodies.

Jaune looked to his left and noticed their shadows on the ground—and for some reason payed no mind to the swirling darkness in his shadow.

 **"Stay concentrated, Jaune,"** Salem spoke in his head, sounding unusually happy.

She was right, he needed to concentrate on what was important.

Burning the-

Killing Kalos.

The door opened before they evened knocked.

"Hi!" Neara said in absolute glee as she dragged them—namely Pyrrha—inside. "Guys! She's here!"

"I'm gonna get a... drink," Jaune said as he left Pyrrha to the massive crowd of fans.

* * *

Jaune slipped through the crowd of people, feeling unnatural among the... the fun.

Maybe this party would have been enjoyable if he wasn't trying to kill a man and burn hi- take all his information.

He was aiming to please, after all, he was sure Raven would appreciate if he took all the info Kalos had on whatever she was apart of. It was his chance to get into the loop. If he could find out what made Raven so scared of Kalos... then a lot of his questions would be answered.

 **"You're fighting for yourself, aren't you?"**

What? He was doing this for Rave-

 **"The mask, are you not? It sounds pretty personal to me."**

Jaune stepped into the backyard, where a crap ton of people were swimming in Kalos' pool.

Why was everything so fuzzy? Was he drunk?

He shook his head to concentrate, he subtly eyed the security cameras all around the backyard.

There. A single blind spot, and it was perfect. It was for a doorway that separated the inside and out, there were a few people coming in and out of it and a surprising lack of cameras watching it.

Jaune started to walk through it... and then disappeared.

He appeared in a bathroom across the house.

"Wha?" he muttered weakly.

 **"Remember? I said I would teleport you and give you your cloak?"**

Did they talk about that?

Jaune looked down and noticed shadow trailing around his cloak like they were magnetically attracted to it.

Tad ironic in a way, since he _was_ with the giant redheaded magnet.

Jaune made sure his hood was on as he exited the bathroom.

* * *

Kalos was home. He came back early from the ball.

And luckily, he was pretty damn cool.

"I'm going to my office," he told his daughter. "Please don't break anything or bother me, oh, and get some mouthwash... if I wasn't so tired I'd ground you for that smell in your mouth."

Then he just locked himself in his office.

He walked passed Kalos' office for the umpteenth time. It wasn't that he didn't have a way in, he could just open or knock the door down.

It was just that people, including Pyrrha, not too far from him. His former partner was looking uncomfortable as people showered her with praise and whatever tales they were trying to impress her with. They were in a room right across Kalos' office—he couldn't get in without them noticing.

He needed a distraction.

Jaune walked down a hallway towards the kitchen. He looked through the shelves, looking for a specific thing.

There... Kalos had a higher quality, Dust efficient stove. There was an insulated shelf filled with red Dust for when the stove needed to be refilled.

That was his distraction.

* * *

Jaune payed no attention to the smoke alarms as he kicked the door to the office open, a knife he gotten from the kitchen in his hand.

But Kalos wasn't there, Jaune noticed an open window fluttering with the wind.

His eyes widened and he rushed towards it—

 **"Jaune wait!"** he could here Salem cry in his mind. **"Why would he exit from the window when the door is a lot easier? There is no reason why he would go out from there."**

Jaune looked around the office. The bookshelf was untouched, the desk had a few bills on it, the empty fireplace was untouched—

Wait. Empty fireplace?

Jaune didn't know why, but it just didn't look _right_. There was no wood or even a poker that all fireplaces had, especially houses as nice as Kalos'.

He walked over and crouched inside of it—there wasn't even ash in the chimney.

Jaune slowly pushed the back wall, gasping slightly as it pushed open to reveal a hallway.

He hesitantly walked down it. He approached a door and pushed it open slightly.

Kalos turned as he entered, eyes widening as he did.

Jaune threw the kitchen knife at him as fast as he could, Kalos ducked underneath it.

But Jaune rushed him much faster than he could react, a simple blow to the head sent him to the ground—and a vicious kick to the head knocked him into a painful sleep.

 **"Kill him,"** Salem almost begged. **"End him."**

Jaune stared at the knife stuck into a wall and frowned.

"No."

 **"What?"**

"I... I don't know what's happening to me, but it isn't good. There is no way I am so... bloodthirsty."

He felt a pulling in his mind.

 **"Jaune..."**

Jaune swallowed a lump in his throat as he used all his will to _refuse_ killing Kalos.

What was he doing? Raven or not, was he just gonna kill a man?

No. No matter what he did, Jaune Arc wouldn't kill in cold blood.

 **"Jaune, you are in a dark world. It's inevitabl-"**

"No!" he growled. "I'll decide whether or not Kalos is worth killing or not."

 **"The smoke must be affecting yo-"**

He ignored Salem, feeling her voice fade from his mind as he walked over to a desk in the middle of the hidden office.

He picked up a file and opened it, reading it with narrow eyes.

"The Maidens..." he muttered quietly. "Possible locations? Current hosts?"

He heard of the Maidens before, they were a common fairy tale. His mother would tell him and his siblings about them all the time, but _every time_ she made sure to mention that they weren't real.

The idea of four girls with the power to control the elements with their own free will was far fetched. There was no such thing as elemental manipulation without Dust... right?

Jaune frowned as he flipped through papers—each one had a little bio on a variety of females.

Yang? Because she caught fire with her semblance?

Weiss' sister? For her name only?

Pyrrha was labeled 'potential host'...?

What did that all mean?

Where the Maiden's real? And if so, why was Kalos trying to find them?

He found one file towards the end, and suddenly it all clicked.

 _"...but what he's seeking in secret can destroy the world if he uncovers it. That is the goal of our group, to protect the world from the shadows, even if it means becoming those shadows."_

Name: Summer Rose.

Deceased.

Status: Alleged next in line for Summer Maidenhood.

Jaune stared, and stared... and just kept staring.

According to Kalos, Summer Rose, Ruby's mom, was going to be the next Maiden of Summer... but died before she could.

But she wasn't dead. He wished she was dead after the sadistic training she put him through, but she was alive and well.

He desperately searched through whatever files were left as smoke invaded the room—the fire was the last thing on his mind at the moment, he actually forgot about it.

He coughed as smoke invaded his system, but somehow managed to find what he was looking for.

Raven Brawnen.

Alive.

Status:Unknown if Maiden or not.

Unknown location.

Jaune quickly packed all the files and tried to put them in his cloa-

Wait! Where did his cloak go?

"Salem?" he called. "Salem?"

Was she angry that he cut their connection?

"Salem, I had to cut the connection... strange things were happening to me when it was on. It was like—"

He swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Salem... you can only assume control of my vision, right? And it's consensual... you need my permission, don't you?"

There was silence.

 **"I expected it to be easy to manipulate you. I'll be more cautious next time."**

"What? What are you talking about!?"

 **"It doesn't matter... you won't remember the last minute anyways."**

Jaune felt his head start to ache.

 **"I thought the mark would work fine,"** he heard as his world started to spin. **"Maybe I need another one..."**

* * *

Jaune gasped as life returned to him.

He shot up, groaning and clutching his head as he did.

What happened?

He entered Kalos' house, snuck into his office, found his secret room, knocked him out, found out his objective... and?

 **"And then I took you and Kalos outside before you burned alive."**

Jaune blinked.

Salem?

 **"What's up, Jaune, you seem confused."**

His head was spinning. It felt like he should really _know_ something—like his mind was screaming something at him but it was on the lowest volume, practically mute, he knew something was there... but _what_?

"How... what do you mean 'burned alive?'"

 **"Some kid started a fire, don't you remember? You spent around ten minutes just cursing that guy out for ruining your plan."**

Was that what happened?

 **"Are you alright?"**

Jaune frowned as he stood up shakily.

Salem hadn't led him wrong before, he'd give her the benefit of the doubt.

Even thought it didn't feel _right_.

He glanced at his side and recognized a figure next to him.

"Kalos!" the gasp came out of his mouth before he could control it.

Kalos laid on the grass dead, soot covered his face and Jaune could see the blood leak from his torso and nose.

What happened to him?

 **"You guys fought... and then you killed him."**

What!? Jaune felt his breathing started to get faster and faster as his heart sunk in his chest.

He didn't want to kill Kalos! He _knew_ he didn't want to!

How did he not remember ending the life of another man? Grimm were soulless beasts, they didn't have any emotions other than rage... so why did killing Kalos feel just like another Grimm?

 **"You are made for this, Jaune."**

No! Surely not!?

He could feel a beating in his chest.

 **"This is _you_ Jaune. Why won't you _embrace_ it?"**

He looked around him and noticed shadows trailing all around him. It was like they were meant for him, like they were trying to _be_ him. The shadows felt so... so _comforting_... was it because he wanted to be inside of them? Because he felt _safe_ knowing his acts were hidden in darkness?

He couldn't help but feel his entire life was full of symbolism... symbolism so blatant he couldn't even see it.

Was Raven's life the one he wanted to live? All he wanted was to go home, hug all his sisters individually, and then apply to a combat school legally.

Being a criminal wasn't suppose to happen. Becoming an apprentice to a shadow organization full of dead mothers that protects a damn _fairy tale_ wasn't suppose to happen.

Burning a house full of teenagers because he _wanted_ to wasn't suppose to happen.

"Salem..." he started slowly. "I have no idea what happened in Kalos' office, and it scares me. I think you need to go, I don't want you to see what horrible thoughts I have in my head."

Little did he know, he just crumbled Salem's plan for the second time.

 **"Jaune! What do you mean? I can help you! Just let me..."**

"No... I need to do this myself."

 **"That's selfish!"  
**

"I _am_ selfish! See what I did to Cardin and his team!?"

 **"They didn't die!"**

"But what lives are they living now?"

If he payed attention, he would have heard Salem's muffled cry of agitation or even her small rant of how she played her cards wrong and underestimated him.

But he didn't, he was just staring at Kalos' body in turmoil.

He had a daughter. He was suppose to help Mistral... and now he's dead because he got too interested in a children's story.

"Well... this is a strange sight."

Jaune's head snapped towards the unknown voice.

It was a man, a scary man. Black hair that was graying, a simple dress shirt and pants combo, a cross necklace... he would have looked normal if it wasn't for the tattered red cape.

...or the giant sword resting on his shoulder.

"Who are you?" Jaune asked slowly and quietly, not quite believing his eyes.

Who comes _towards_ the burning house?

"My name... doesn't really matter," he answered. "But if you really wanted to know, it's Qrow."

Qrow? That sounded familiar...

"What do you want, Qrow?"

Qrow chuckled a little as he leveled his sword at Jaune.

"I want you, Jaune Arc... or rather, Vale's mysterious black cloaked criminal."

Jaune couldn't even vocalize his feelings. So his jaw dropping was the best sign of emotion he could show.

Which made Qrow's smirk grow even wider than it was before.

* * *

Walking into a party with a weapon was a fastest way to get the cops called—so Jaune didn't have Crocea Mors with him.

He ducked underneath a swipe of Qrow's massive sword and jumped forwards, ramming into his foe. Qrow let Jaune take his legs out from under him and placed his hands on the Arc's shoulder, flipping over him.

Jaune tried to whip around to protect his back, but instead of stabbing him Qrow opted to kick him. The blonde was sent face first into the floor, where he quickly got back onto his feet.

"Jaune!" a voice cried.

Qrow ducked underneath a projectile that Jaune caught. Comfort flooded him as he savored the noise as Crocea Mors extending.

Qrow jumped back to gain some distance and eyed the newcomer.

"Pyrrha Nikos... why is a student at Beacon helping a criminal?"

"He's not bad!" Pyrrha yelled. "I'm not going to believe what he did to CRDL was what really happened!"

"I'm not talking about the Beacon incident! I'm talking about—"

Jaune rushed the older man before he could finish.

Qrow brought his weapon up and blocked a swing of Jaune's sword. The Arc raised his shield and attempted to slam it into Qrow, but the huntsman easily dodged it and swept Jaune's feet out from under him.

Pyrrha fired a shot from her gun and made Qrow back off before he could go any farther.

The champion rushed the older man, attacking at speeds Jaune could barely follow.

But that didn't stop him from joining the fight. Even though it had been months since they last fought, Arkos still knew enough to double team someone.

Jaune rushed forwards with his shield in front of him, as Qrow stepped to the side to avoid the ram Pyrrha leaped over Jaune and drove her spear towards his chest. Qrow somehow rose his sword and blocked the attack as Jaune whipped around and stabbed at him.

The older man took the blow, his Aura strong enough to deflect it away. He overpowered Pyrrha and sent her tumbling away, before executing a beautiful spin around Jaune to slam the hilt of his sword into the back of the Arc's head.

Jaune's fuzzy mind swarmed with thought.

That move... it was uncannily like...

Like Raven's.

They had rather similar fighting styles with swords, Qrow and Raven. The only difference was that Raven went a lot slower in training, because if she went anywhere near her real speed, it would be more of a massacre than practice.

Jaune shakily stood up. He looked over to see Pyrrha being easily outclassed by Qrow.

It was useless... Qrow as too strong.

Pyrrha was dragged into a no win situation because of him...

Jaune rushed forwards.

He couldn't allow her to be hurt, or even killed. This was his fight—he dragged her in by lying and playing on her emotions.

That was what a true villain would do, no doubt. He was nothing more than a lying murderer that would do anything to achieve his goals.

And Pyrrha trusted him.

It _hurt_ to think about it.

Crocea Mors glowed yellow as he swung it towards Qrow. The older Hunter brought up his sword to block... and was blown back uncontrollably by the hit.

Jaune was blown back by the pure force of the hit—he didn't expect that to happen.

He just wanted to protect... what was that?

Qrow, who had flown a few meters away and into the ground, let out a small groan as he got back onto his feet.

"Well," he started, "you just made things a hell of a lot more complicated, Jaune."

Jaune stared at his sword as the glow faded. A buzz that he didn't even realize he had faded as well, making his head ache as he tried to find answers.

"What was that?" Pyrrha asked as she joined his side.

Jaune didn't have an answer.

"That's his Semblance," Qrow answered for him. "Something you shouldn't have."

"Huh?" he let out unintelligently.

"The will to protect makes you stronger," Qrow explained, his eyes narrowing. "It's a pretty powerful Semblance, and pretty dangerous when a murderer like you has it."

Jaune didn't have to look at Pyrra to know she was glancing at him.

He gritted his teeth. "I'm not sure what happened... but there's no way I just killed him like that."

"But you did!"

Pyrrha swallowed a lump in her throat. "Jaune," she said quietly. "You killed the assassin, right?"

"Assassin?" Qrow laughed darkly. "Honey, Jaune Arc _is_ the assassin. I ran into him right over Kalos' body."

"No... that can't be." She looked at him, silently begging him to reassure her that Qrow was lying.

"I did say you shouldn't come," Jaune said lowly. "I told you not to follow me for your own good."

Qrow shook his head. "Pyrrha, I know you can't believe this, and I know exactly what you're thinking. My nieces are Ruby and Yang, and they told me about how good of a guy Jaune was." He glared at Jaune. "But this guys isn't the Jaune Arc you remember."

"Why are you just standing there," Jaune asked his former partner with a flat expression. "You're an accomplice to a murder... you should run before the cops come and arrest you."

Cut all ties... he needed to sever the old bonds.

He needed to protect them by pushing them away.

"Jaune..." she whispered, "how could you?"

"I've changed. I told you I deserve to be a criminal..."

Qrow sighed. "Pyrrha, come over here. Take a seat while I take blondie over here to prison."

"I'd like to see you try!" a melodious voice said from the woods. Qrow couldn't raise his weapon in time as he was hit in the back and sent flying into a tree.

"Come on Jaune!" his temporary mentor, Summer Rose, yelled as she grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

He could see Pyrrha shakily raise her weapon. He rose his shield and easily blocked the lone bullet she fired before they were out of visual range.

"Shit!" he could here Qrow yell. "We need to catch them!"

But they entered a red portal and vanished before he could even see them.

* * *

 _"You see that?"_

 _"Yes Raven... how could I not notice that?"_

 _"Summer... be serious. That curse is going to destroy his entire body!"_

 _"I know I know. Don't worry, I can take the mark away easily."_

 _"But we have no idea who caused this. Whoever did this to him can do it again."_

 _"He might have the answers we need, lets just wait until he wakes up."_

* * *

"The whole point of this organization is to be in the shadows." Raven glared at him as she paced back and forth. Jaune groggily stared at her as he finally regained consciousness.

Jaune looked around and noticed that he was laying in the middle of a grassy field.

"What happened," he croaked out, feeling completely exhausted.

"You collapsed after we took you out of the portal," his temporary mentor explained as she walked over with a bundle of papers. "Your... uh... cloak didn't survive."

He rose an eyebrow. "What happened to it? And how did the papers inside of it survive?"

"You're on drugs," she said. "You're not thinking straight.

His eyes widened, before he nodded. "Oh... okay."

"Jaune," Raven started sharply, "why did you burn the house down."

"I'm..." he paused and closed his eyes, "I have no clue. It was like a lapse in my memory. I remember getting the files, then I woke up outside the house with Kalos next to me."

"I see."

"How long was I out?"

"Two days."

Jaune stared, shellshocked.

"Did... did you read the papers?" he asked quietly, trying to put away the fact he was unconscious for two whole days.

"We did."

"So," he started, "are you actually a Maiden, Summer?"

Summer Rose, his sadistic mentor, smiled at him. "You're finally using my name!"

"Saying your name in public and around Pyrrha, who knows Ruby, was a bad idea. Of course I didn't use your name!"

"See that Raven!" she taunted. "He's smart! I should teach him instea—

"Be quiet." Raven's face looked lethal.

"Okayi'msorrydon'tkillme!"

Raven cleared her throat. "Jaune, as sloppy as it was, you did pass the test." She held a mask out. "This is yours."

He grabbed it slowly and stared at it. It was in the shape of a King Taijitu, half of it white and half of it black. It covered his entire face like Ravens, and had two fangs that extended from the mouth to below the chin.

"You turn the fang to lock and unlock it," Raven explained. "You bend the right fang to open the mask and use it to lock it onto your face once you put it on. It will never fall of your face and nothing short of a Dust mine explosion will destroy it."

A snake... how fitting.

No doubt Pyrrha would agree with the decision.

"So what is this organization?"

"This is an organization made to protect one of the Remnant's oldest tales," Summer said. "The Maidens, as you already know, are as real as they get."

"We are a shadow group that keeps the Maidens protected and secret," Raven continued. "People will do anything to get their hands on the Maiden's powers, so we must constantly keep them safe."

Jaune nodded.

"So who are the Maidens?" he asked.

Summer stood up taller. "I'm a Maiden!" she said proudly. "Guess what season I am?"

"Summer?"

"Yup! How did you know?"

He stared blandly.

Summer huffed. "Geez, you look like Raven..."

"Anyways," Raven cut off, "we are a very selective group. We don't just choose people because of their strength or skill, we have very specific processes that decides if we recruit a person or not."

"Like personal ties," he guessed. "I'm perfect because everybody wants me to disappear... nobody misses a criminal."

She nodded. "That and a few more reasons for your recruitment. The biggest is your Semblance."

"My Semblance?" He could remember the yellow energy he used and how Qrow called it his Semblance, but he had no clue how or why it activated.

"A little history lesson might help you understand a bit better," Summer said as she plopped down next to him. "You know the story of the Maidens, right?"

"Four young girls made an old man happy and he bestowed upon them great powers... that's the gist of it."

"Right!" she chirped. "You're missing some details, but the lesson isn't about the girls or even the old man—this is about someone not even mentioned in the bed time stories." She looked at him, trying to build suspense. "You don't hear about what happens to the girls after they gained their powers."

"I assume they lived happily ever after."

Summer shook her head. "Eventually they did, but not yet. After they gained their powers, the world was shocked. Humanity had just discovered Dust and was just getting the hang of using it. People saw the power the Maiden's held and were infatuated by it immediately."

"So they tried to steal it?"

"Yes, they tried many ways. Some tried to manipulate or seduce the girls, thinking they would willing give their powers up, while some tried violent measures. None of the attempts worked for two main reasons."

"Men?"

Summer gave him a thumbs up. "Righto! Women didn't have the same rights back then, so only men came to take the power—they thought girls didn't deserve it or something. They didn't realize that only Maidens could have the Maiden power, all those men couldn't have the power no matter what."

"The strongest people I know are girls," Jaune said lowly. "You don't mess with them." Team RWBY, Pyrrha, Nora, Neo, Summer and Raven... plus living with seven hormonal sisters made him even more scared of girls.

"People were stupid back then. Anyways, the other reason people's attempts to take the Maidens didn't work was because of their bodyguard."

"Bodyguard? Like a big, beefy guy who followed them around with a suit and earpiece?"

Raven stared at him dryly as Summer laughed.

"That would make the story a lot more interesting, but no. The man who protected the Maidens was either the son or worker of the original old man—ya know, the one who gave the Maidens their powers."

"So did he have superpowers as well?"

"Today? No. Thousands of years ago? Yes." Summer grinned. "This is where it applies to you. The man, who spent time with the Maidens either by visiting his father, if he's the son, or working for his boss, if he's the employee, grew close to the girls. He was angered by how many people wanted to use the girl's powers for their own greed, so he started to protect them—he was their knight."

"And when he couldn't protect all four, he recruited some friends."

"Very good," Raven said, making him smile a little.

Summer nodded. "Smart observation. He and his friends protected the Maidens, and when the knight died, his son took over. Over time, the power of the protector was passed on just like the Maiden's powers were passed on. There was a catch, though, because the Knight's power could only be passed on to his son or close relative."

"So what power is it?"

"The Protector's powers are to—you guessed it—protect. His will to protect the Maiden's and keep the world safe gave him power beyond measure, which is a lot of power when we're talking about Maiden's who could control the elements. The need to protect things close to him is what gives the Knight all his power."

It actually made a lot of sense. The son of the previous knight would want to protect his family legacy by protecting the Maidens, and when he inevitably got close to them it would only increase the Semblance's power.

But there was one issue. "My dad is still alive, and there's no way he's part of a shadow cult."

Summer smirked. "Who said it's your dad?" She noticed his confused expression. "Jaune, how many siblings did your dad have?"

"He's the middle child of three boys..." his eyes widened, "one of my uncles led this organization?"

"Yes," Raven said with a nod. "The eldest of the three died young, while your dad didn't inherit the Semblance. Your dad's younger brother did, and he led this group until recently."

"How recently?"

"It depends," Summer said. "When did you leave your family for Beacon?"

He froze.

"What?"

"Jaune, how many older sibling do you have?" Raven asked.

"I... uh... I have five older sisters and two younger."

Raven absently cleaned her sword with a towel. "Why is it that your parents have so many children? Eight children is a lot for this day and age."

"I just assumed they _really_ love each other..." suddenly it clicked, "... oh no."

Raven met his eyes. "The protector must be a male, and your uncle didn't have any heirs. Your parents needed to have a boy to continue the line, but they somehow managed to have five girls before they had you. If you ended up being a girl, your parents would have kept going."

"What about my younger siblings?"

"Your dad didn't inherit the Semblance, there was a chance you wouldn't either."

He nodded, acting like he completely understood even though he didn't. "So me leaving for Beacon?" he asked.

"What happened right before you left? There was a family crisis, I believe."

"Well my uncle died..."

Summer giggled. "Exactly! Crocea Mors is a legendary sword that they talk about in history classes! Do you think that your parents just let the sword sit on the kitchen table in the dead of night? That they would just let a family heirloom get stolen and not try to find it?"

His mind was numb. "They let me take it..."

"Having eight children was too much for your mother," Raven said. "She literally couldn't have anymore children, they needed you to have the Semblance."

"It's a wonder she managed to squeeze out eight of them," Summer muttered. "Just getting Ruby out was the worst pain I've ever felt, and she was smaller than average..."

"Anyways," Raven continued, "they lucked out when you started showing signs of the Semblance."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Jaune, any combat school would have taken a person with half the Aura reserves you have. They take raw talent and refined it, people like our daughters didn't start out powerful, they were taught. You Aura went from civilian to Huntsman when you turned sixteen—that was when your Semblance started to manifest."

He _did_ get rejected from Signal when he was younger—they said he had no aptitude for being a Huntsman. He always did wonder how he got rejected when he apparently had the highest reserves of the freshman class in Beacon.

"What if I didn't show any signs?" he decided to ask.

"Then the hopes would be for your sisters to settle down early."

He glared at Summer. "My sister's aren't dating until they're thirty and with a job—or else some poor sap is being castrated."

There was pause. Jaune's glare faded as he realized how happy Summer looked.

Raven had a small smile. "Look at your hands."

Jaune raised his hand and gasped—there was a small yellow glow surrounding his fingers, but as suddenly as it appeared, however, it vanished.

"Your need to protect your sisters gave you power," Summer said excitedly. "It's amazing, isn't it?"

It was powerful enough to be manifested visually. The only Semblances that had enough power to do that was Yang's, and maybe Nora's if she got electrocuted enough.

Was there no limits? Could his need to 'protect' be infinite power?

He looked down. "Even if I have this Semblance I'm nowhere near strong enough to be some sort of knight. I got my ass kicked by that Qrow guy... if anyone even close to his power came at me I would be screwed."

Raven let out an agitated sigh. "My brother Qrow is quite the bother. We're lucky he didn't recognize Summer when she attacked him."

Jaune nodded. "His fighting style is a lot like yours—it's fucking tough to fight such precise movements."

"You're gonna learn that," Raven declared. "We have agreed that you need a lot more training. Our group can handle a little longer without a Knight, so we will train you until you are strong enough to take the mantel."

"You guys, or someone else?" he asked.

"Us!" Summer said happily. "Everyone else in our group doesn't like how Raven is my lone bodyguard, so it appeases all sided if you travel with us!"

Raven nodded as she finished cleaning her sword and put it away.

"About that," Jaune said. "How... um... how are you a Maiden? You have a... well Ruby."

Raven looked into the distance. "Originally, I was chosen to be the new Summer Maiden. The ability to create portals like mine was perfect for a Maiden, I could escape any danger easily. However, I was rebellious, and the old Knight, not your uncle, wasn't a person you say no to."

"He tried to force the title upon you."

"Yes," she said, her usual monotone filled with the slightest hint of emotion. "And to stop him from making me a Maiden, I had a child."

"Summer had a child too," he pointed out.

Summer was looking away as well, obviously this was a sore subject, but he had to know. Ruby and Yang were clearly hurt by the disappearances of their mothers, and his two mentors seemed like they genuinely cared for their daughters.

He deserved answers, and he didn't want to wait any longer.

Raven had a tight expression on her usually emotionless face. "I was taken into captivity just in case they couldn't find another candidate, but they did find another person who was more qualified. I managed to get word out to Summer and she had her own child, but the old Protector decided to break the usual rules. He didn't care if the Maiden was virgin or not, he just wanted a Maiden who could handle the power."

"So they made me the knew Summer Maiden," Summer finally spoke, "and Raven decided to join the group and become my personal bodyguard because she felt bad. I'm not sure why she feels so bad, it's really not her fault."

"Yes it is," Raven said quietly.

There was an awkward silence—at least it was awkward for Jaune—Raven and Summer looked deep in thought.

"So what happened to the old Knight?" he asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Your uncle decided he was going a bit too far and staged," Summer thought for a moment, "I guess a coup is the best way to describe it. Most of the group was on his side, the old Protector had no support anyways. Your uncle 'encouraged' the old protector to retire and give the position to him."

"The old, bad Knight was my family, right?"

"Your grandfather, that's why your uncle didn't kill him."

Jaune stared into the sky and let out a deep breath. "What did I get dragged into?"

Raven created a portal. "You didn't get dragged into anything, you were _born_ into most powerful organization the world has never heard of."

"So I'm part of the Illuminati now? Great..."

"That's exactly what I said!"

"Summer, be quiet."

"But it's tru—"

"Both of you, _shut up!"_

* * *

 **Authors note: Salem is starting to be a lot more bold in manipulating Jaune. She wants his Semblance just as much as Raven's shadow group does, and she's not going down without a fight.**

 **It's safe to say that Jaune really needs some Testosterone in his life—there's too many powerful women messing with him—too bad Roman doesn't count... that guy is a fruity as it gets.**


	9. Chapter 9

**I own nothing**

* * *

 _"It's been unlocked."_

 _"Has it?"_

 _"Yes, luckily the boy Raven picked up inherited it."_

 _"Little Jauney is the one! That's great!"_

 _"Do you know him?"_

 _"Well of course, he is my—"_

" _Wait. There's some Grimm over there."_

 _"I'll tell you later."_

* * *

"You know you're dead, right?"

Jaune rolled his eyes at Roman's grave words.

"Roman, I'm not going to die. I have a perfectly good excuse, and Cinder seems like a reasonable woman."

Roman just shook his head and held up his phone. There was a picture of him running away from the police. "Kid," Roman said, "Cinder isn't going to ignore being put to voicemail three times just because you blew cover."

"She should be grateful I came back to this country," Jaune refuted. "I'm literally public enemy number one right now... both here and Mistral. I should be chilling in Vacuo while the heat gets off me."

"About that kid," Neo appeared next to Roman with a stack of papers, "I looked into the mysterious murdered that killed that Kalos guy. I was wondering why they didn't release your name as the killer even though they know it was you... why did you do that anyways?"

"You gave a me some time off. I took a personal vacation."

"To kill a politician?"

"Roman... _personal_."

Roman scoffed and started to shuffle through papers. "Kid, you have some big people watching out for you. For some reason, according to these docs Neo got, General James Ironwood and Headmaster Ozpin used their influence to keep you secret. I'm not sure why, since Ozpin kicked you out of Beacon and Ironwood is a literal hardass."

"That Qrow guy said they needed me for something—apparently I inherited some Arc thing that they want. I think it might be Crocea Mors, but I'm not sure why they didn't take it when I left Beacon."

It was kinda upsetting that Raven and Summer left him after a few days. The only reason Raven had left him with Roman in the first place was because he needed training while she was with Summer. Now, he could have stayed with the two, but apparently they had some bigger shit to attend to.

They spent all that time talking about how amazing and important his Semblance was before throwing him to Roman.

A bit counter intuitive, in his own opinion.

"So what's the deal with Cinder?" he asked. "The White Fang are doing whatever the fuck they're doing, and you've been laying low after that temper tantrum you had."

"What did you just say? I wanted to take the mech for a spin! And little red and her crew seemed like good test subjects!"

"Roman, you may not be a registered Huntsman, but you're damn good. Why the hell do you lead Ruby and her crew on like that? You could beat all of them pretty easily."

Roman smirked and tipped his hat. "Because, my hardheaded friend, a good criminal must always have at least fifteen contingency plans for every situation—may it be robbing a pack of gum or sleeping when there's heat on you."

"And my former friends apply how?"

"Former!" Roman let out a hearty laugh. "Good job, kid, you admitted that they're not your friends. That's good, because I wasn't going to tell you if I noticed any sign of personal loyalty."

"I used my former partner to get into a party to enact an assassination," Jaune said blandly, "Of course I have no ties."

"Well kid," Roman leaned in closer, "I'm not exactly crucial to Miss Fall's plans. My job is to steal the things she needs for her plans, may it be Dust or weapons. But answer me this... what does she want from me when she has all she needs?"

"Nothing."

"Exactly!" Roman stuck his hands in the air as he exclaimed, "Nothing at all! Right now, I'm crucial to her plans since there's no better thief than me. As soon as I get the shit she needs, however, I'm nothing more than expendable. The only reason I have so much freedom under Cinder is because Neo makes hers uncomfortable—she knows Neo's a variable she can't account for."

It was starting to click.

"Ruby's team has some pretty well known ties," Jaune started slowly. "Both Yang and Ruby are considered prodigies in Signal; plus their relationship with the legendary team STRQ. Blake used to be Adam Taurus' right hand man... well girl... so she has valuable information and training underneath one of the deadliest terrorists out there. And Weiss is a heir to the Schnee Dust Company, the biggest company in the world."

That team was the anti-Cinder. They had the talent, the information and the supplies to seriously put a dent in Cinder's plan—possibly take her down eventually. Team RWBY was already invested in stopping the White Fang, and by proxy Cinder. Roman was egging them on—making them more invested and slowly easing them into fighting Cinder.

Roman sat down on a chair and kicked his feet up on the table. "Kid," he said, "the 'random' selection process in Beacon isn't as random as they say. The way the kids are launched, where better looking paths or where Grimm are... it makes the exact team Ozpin wants. Why do you think the names always make a word as well? Because Ozpin has months, if not years, to decide who will work well with who."

"I heard that kids in combat school have to take a yearly psych evaluation," Jaune breathed out. "And another one while they take their physical to enroll into Beacon."

"Exactly, kid. Find what personality types work well together, and then try to make teams that will be famous one day. Ozpin decided that someone like Yang Xiao Long can use her sunny, eccentric personality on a person like Blake Belladona. Your old teammates, Ren and Nora, coincidentally two found each other in an entire forest. If you watched the clips of the initiation, Ren was forced to fight a Taijitu before he could get too far away from Nora."

"What... what about me?"

"Kid, I checked your fake transcripts, there's no way you should have been allowed into Beacon. There are so many holes in that thing except one fact that got you in—your name."

"My name?"

"Ozpin checked around and found out that you were, indeed, part of the Arc family. And, something about your family you probably don't know, the Arc family doesn't enter primary schools like Signal, or in your case, Oasis. Why would a kid from Vale decide to go to Vacuo? Especially a shit hole like Oasis..."

"But me being paired with Pyrrha?" Jaune knew the curiosity was probably leaking off him a bit too much, but he was finally getting answers for all the shit that has been happening in his life.

"There's two reasons that I can guess—and I really mean guess. One is that they decided that your personalities match and put you together. The other, which is as solid as jello, is that there's something linking you two."

"Huh?"

"Hey Neo," Roman called, "I'll take you shopping if you get me something to drink."

There was silence for a few moments before Neo walked across the room and to the kitchen of the apartment-turned-safehouse they were in.

"I did some digging into you and Beacon," Roman admitted. "It was after I met you, and I wondered how the hell was this kid a psychopath?"

Jaune glared. "I'm not sure what happened there, but I'm not crazy enough to do... to do what I did."

"Exactly!" Roman exclaimed as Neo placed a rather intricate drink (it was pinkish-orange with multiple mini umbrellas) next to him. "Thanks Neo. Anyways," he took a sip of his drink, "I knew that there was something fishy about you doing horrible shit like that—I thought you were framed."

"Was I?" Jaune asked, pretending to be calm.

Roman shrugged. "Beacon's a tough nut to crack. Places like Haven or Shade have inside men everywhere—easy information. Beacon, however, is run by Ozpin's paranoia. Beacon's staff size is more than half any other school of the same caliber; Ozpin hand selects every worker very specifically. I couldn't get anything legit on your expulsion, but I got some interesting stuff on your entry."

"And that was?"

"Headmaster Ozpin personally made sure you got into the school. He personally submitted your documents to Vale's council, instead of just shipping them to them with all the other files—little Red was an exception too, but hers wasn't as interesting as yours."

He took another sip of his drink. Jaune knew every sip was intentionally drawn out just to piss him off.

"Every single hole that your transcript had was gone. I got a copy of the file Ozpin sent to the government and compared it to the copy I got from that shitty forger you used, and they're completely different."

"Ozpin changed them?"

"Vale thinks that you were home schooled by the prestigious Arc family and entered the school through the open tryouts—the same way Miss Belladona was accepted. It said your Aura was unlocked and you were very proficient with a sword—Ozpin even found as many blood types of your family as possible and guessed what type you were... you're O negative by the way, universal donor."

Jaune filed the last part away for future use. "Why would Ozpin go through all the trouble of faking my already fake transcripts to let me into Beacon?" he asked.

Roman reached into his pocket and pulled out his Scroll. "That's the beauty of this thing," he said. "Everyone has a Scroll, and I mean everyone. In fact, the only company that can rival the SDC is Codex, the company that made the Scroll and basically the internet. I have an insider pretty high up in Codex that got me some info on Ozpin's research history. He was looking up the Arc family—specifically your uncle and grandfather."

Jaune felt his muscles tense.

Did Ozpin know about the Illuminate (he didn't have a better name for it)? Qrow knew exactly what his Semblance was, but why would they kick him out of Beacon?

"It makes sense," Roman said. "You said Qrow Branwen wanted something involving Crocea Mors and the Arc lineage. It's possible that only an Arc can use the sword to it's full potential, which according to the stories is immense. The last two people to use the sword was your uncle and your grandfather; it's safe to assume that Ozpin wanted you to unlock the power of the sword in Beacon."

"But I didn't."

Roman nodded. "It wasn't the fact that you were failing academically, it was the fact that you showed no sign of combat skill. Even without training, a man with hundreds of years of warrior blood in him should have even some sort of visible potential—you couldn't even swing a sword straight."

"And so when I did what I did, they decided not to cover for me anymore," Jaune finished. "I was an investment that failed. But, I ended up showing that I did perhaps inherit the skills of my ancestors at the docks and they want me back."

"But you're a criminal." Roman was on the exact same wavelength as him. "They can't just find you on the streets and take you in like I did—they know you're a willing accomplice to Roman Torchwick who's willing to play on the emotions of his former friends to commit crimes."

"They wanted to take me into custody and convince me to join them," Jaune continued. "I got too much media after what I did to Cardin and his team, but I didn't kill them. They could release..."

Roman picked up on him. "They could release a statement saying that it was all a big miscommunication, or have you publicly apologize to CRDL and become a man trying to redeem himself, but..."

"...but now I'm a murderer. So they're desperately trying to cover up the murder because not even their influence can stop me from being arrested once the public hears about Kalos—especially after all the heat I picked up escaping Vale!"

He clapped his hands together and stared at Roman excitedly. Roman looked just as entertained as well, taking a big gulp from his drink and slamming the cup into the table in triumph.

The both looked to the side and noticed Neo staring at them, slightly perturbed.

"Neo, if you could speak you would understand how fucking awesome that just was."

* * *

 _"It's not surprising. Ozpin's reach spans all over the Remnant, if anyone knows about the Maidens it's him."_

"But he's taking action. Raven, he's taking action against me!"

 _"That's why you have Torchwick. Ozpin won't leave his tower unless the apocalypse knocks on his door. Even Qrow will have trouble against Torchwick and Neopolitan together; you're with us any other time, as well."_

"This is just... so messy. Or rather, has the potential to be messy."

 _"There's a reason you're with Roman, we need information on—"_

"Talley-Ho! My good boy!" Roman trotted into room Jaune was in. "It has been nice knowing you, my dear friend!"

"What?" Was his unintelligent reply.

"Roman," an absolute _thrilling_ voice that made his heart stop said. "I'm not going to kill Jaune, so please don't make him worried."

Ah shit... ah shit shit shit shit. He knew ducking three calls from her was a bad idea, but he wasn't thinking straight. Just because he got the answers he wanted didn't mean he should have ignored the lion waiting to be fed.

Or rather, Lioness. Cinder Fall was not a person to be ignored... to be denied.

"Jaune," she addressed with a coy smile, as if she wasn't in complete control. "It's been a while since we last spoke. We agreed to meet again the last time we got together, didn't we?"

He forgot about that too.

His life was going to be ended by the most attractive girl he's ever seen... great.

"That would have been wonderful," he said, trying to keep some modicum of composure, "but we live such busy lifestyles and I couldn't find the time to reschedule. I assure you, it's all my fault."

Be smooth, his father used to say, always be confident and smooth. If you're afraid of the lady you'll end up with eight children, he used to joke.

"It is your fault." Her tone was deadly before an alluring smile found its way onto her face. "But I'm a forgiving person whose been having way too little Jaune Arc in her life. I decided to fix that by planning an entire day of just me and you—it will probably stretch into tomorrow."

A night with Cinder Fall...

But he doubted the night would be what he wanted. Even playing Monopoly against her was certain death.

"That's..." he swallowed the lump in his throat, "that's fine. I was just thinking about a proper way to apologize to you. If this will suffice then please take me for as long as you want."

Knowing her, she would take him for an eternity... keep his skeleton inside her attic or something.

"That's great!" she chirped happily (triumphantly). "Our plans start at Vytal, and then we're going to the capital of Atlas."

His throat went dry.

"What... what are we going to do at those places?" Vytal wasn't a place for a criminal like him to go, it was suicide. The only worse place was Atlas, the most militarized place in the entire Remnant.

Of course Cinder knew that... she just wanted to punish him.

"We're going on a date in Vytal!" her magnificent smile sent another round of chills down his spine. The chills only increased as her smile turned slightly mischievous. "And then we're going to break into an Atlas security base to steal something."

He stared and thought of the horrors that awaited him.

One of them was manageable, there was a better chance of his survival...

But going on a date with _that_ psycho bitch? Couldn't it be multiple Atlesian bases? Perhaps stealing James Ironwood's prosthetic arm?

* * *

Jaune could honestly say he never went on a date before... ever.

It wasn't lame, per se, it was just to product of being rather awkward with seven sisters to ruin any relationship at it's creation. He almost got a girl to... like him, for lack of a better word—there was a girl that obviously was into him... until his sister(s) shaved her head.

They were working together! He couldn't even blame one of them because he didn't know which one!

The heat at his side increased, drawing his attention back to the ever beautiful Miss Fall.

"The weather is lovely, isn't it?" She was dressed in a rather pretty red dress (she wore red a lot) that was a lot simpler than her usual flashy dresses. Their arms were locked, and she was holding his upper arm.

"Not as lovely as you," he said back, feeling her fingers trace his bicep as he talked.

She let out melodious laughter that would have made his heart flutter if it was anyone else. "You are too flattering, my dear. This isn't anything special."

Yeah right, he wanted to say, because she was drawing the attention of all the passerby. There was no way she didn't plan that, she wanted him to be caught. This was all her passive aggressive revenge for denying her.

"I'm not the only one who noticed your beauty... they're gonna start noticing me soon, I fear."

Her smile seemed charming, but he knew it was nothing less than insidious. "Jaune, I worked so hard for these plans. All we have to do is go shopping, have a nice dinner and then break into one of the most secure places in the entire Remnant." She stared at him (fake) lovingly, stroking his face. "As long as we're together, nothing will go wrong."

If she did that a few months ago, he would have been jelly. Now, her words did little but grow the hatred he had for her. She was so... so arrogant and spoiled it was unbelievable. He just wanted to show her that she can't _fuck_ with Jaune Arc...

But how?

"There's the store, Jaune." She pointed at a boutique that had some rather nice clothing on display (he grew up with eight girls, he knew fashion). "You did remember to bring your wallet from the suitcase, right?"

"Yes," he said tightly. What else did he expect?

* * *

Was she trying to play on his sexuality?

Who was he trying to kid? Of course she was. She was Cinder Fall, she, purposefully or not, always made a man feel a little tight around the collar.

"Is this alright?" she asked, moving around in a green dress that looked _fantastic_ on her.

But she was a bitch, so screw her.

"Green's not you color," he said. "You look great, but you could look better."

She wanted his opinion, so she would get it. There would be absolutely no sugar coating.

"Oh," she muttered, off guard. "Then let me try another one."

She walked back into the changing room. Jaune looked around the store, there was a prick who insisted on being their best friend at the store. They basically had a waiter at a clothing store. As if a person rich enough to shop here didn't know what made them look good or not.

The first... eight or so minutes of being at the store was hell. According to the waiter (or whatever he was. Butler, slave, seneschal), it was somewhat frowned upon for a man and a woman to buy their clothes at the same shop, and that the place had a store personally made for males next door.

Did he wanted a tip or not? When asked that he shut up real quick... it was nice.

The butler then tried to basically pick the suit out for him. That bastard wouldn't back down, insisting that he knew a brand that would make headlines if Jaune would just consider it.

For a criminal, the last thing wanted was headlines. Well, Roman wanted headlines, but that guy was freaky, so he didn't count.

So, after eight minutes, the asshole was now fawning over Cinder (now that he thought about it, how did someone _not_ fawn over her for eight minutes?), which she very clearly enjoyed.

The suit the butler suggested was ten times the amount of anything else he was considering. He knew the man was trying to maximize profit, and that he looked young enough to be stupid. They most likely looked like idiot teenagers using their parent's money to spoil themselves.

Seventeen years with five trendy older sisters made a fashionista, it was unavoidable. He wasn't embarrassed at it—ladies love fashion and dancing, two things he specialized in (at least according to mom).

It was all so stupid. Cinder insisted that she shouldn't see him dressed up until they go out to dinner... the hell? They weren't getting married. He could understand the two different hotel rooms (the last thing he wanted was to take a shower with Cinder around), but she was taking this way too seriously.

It was ingenious. She didn't want to kill him, but wanted to make him suffer. She knew he was a practical guy, and made everything as impractical as possible in order to annoy him.

Such passive aggression from a person who could easily wipe out the entire city... unexpected.

* * *

"Now, sweet princess," Jaune mused tiredly, "we're done shopping, can you now tell me how you're going to kill me?"

"Jaune please... I'm a queen." She smirked with the exact look of an arsonist watching a forest fire. "And why would you ever assume I'm intentionally trying to kill you?"

"Oh, I'm taking the unintentional into account as well."

She laughed, making him sigh. She could have easily killed him anytime, yet here she was playing petty games and acting like they were in some sort of partnership instead of dictatorship.

The waiter came over with a bottle of wine that he knew she served him before. It looked undoubtedly expensive, which he expected no less from Cinder.

Hell, he was probably going pay for it all in the end. Most of his money was used on Cinder's dresses alone (she decided to spoil herself with a few), but he did have a credit card underneath a fake name.

Goodbye Blonde Marc, you were a good identity.

"Hush Jaune, relax and enjoy the atmosphere. It's quite astonishing, is it not?"

For once, he agreed with her. "Pure marble... it's like one of those ancient Mistrilian temples." Without a doubt it was the theme of the restaurant. Tall pillars of marble wrapped in contrasting green vines with fountains and massive statues of ancient Mistral gods long forgotten to mainstream religion.

Behind him was a statue of Prometheus, the man who brought fire to the world.

Jaune didn't like it. It was just a tad too ironic for his own tastes.

"It's so grand," Cinder marveled, popping an olive into her mouth. "Is it not one of the most beautiful things you've ever seen?"

"You're sitting right in front of me, so no," he answered, cursing his mouth and honesty.

She have him a smile that seemed genuine. "You know how to charm a lady," she said, leaning slightly closer to him, "makes me feel lucky to have you all to myself."

"We're together for the night, so let's make the most of it."

"Of course we will."

"So, did they ever ask us what we wanted?"

She laughed. "While you were downing a few cups of wine she did come and ask. I decided for you, but don't worry, all the food here must be amazing if the decor even partly signifies the prestige of this place."

"Yes, you're right," he said, swallowing the defeat with another gulp of wine.

* * *

 **Authors note: I've been sitting on most of this chapter since May, but it was intended to be double the current length. There will be more.**


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